With Federal Highway officials approval of environmental studies for the planned northward extension, ALDOT moves closer to the start of construction. Next week officials will hold an informal meeting on an associated project, the new Baldwin County 68 interchange with Interstate 10. Land has yet to be purchased for the interchange right of way, pending environmental approval from FHWA officials. However work on the new interchange should begin in early 2008 if all goes to plan.
Presently, Baldwin County 68 passes over Interstate 10 amid a pastoral setting of farm fields and tree stands. It is unclear what type of interchange will be built, but we surmise a standard diamond interchange. Photo taken June 7, 2006.
An additional hearing will take place next month on the Foley Beach Express extension. Slated to follow a north-south alignment along the Baldwin County 83 corridor, work on the first segment may commence in three to four months. The first segment entails new roadway from near the north end near Alabama 59 to Baldwin County 32 east of Summerdale.
Similar undeveloped farm land and forest stands surround the area of Baldwin County 32 at Eagle Road and Lehman Lane, the intersection where the Foley Beach Express will cross. Pictured here is Baldwin County 32 eastbound after Baldwin County 73, less than a mile west of the future four-lane crossing.
Overall ALDOT and Baldwin County officials expect the 13-mile project to cost an estimated $50 million. Further extension northward, of which no money has yet to be allocated, will cost an additional $50 million depending on the exact alignment and timetable. It is hoped that in totality that the Foley Beach Express will ultimately travel from the Gulf of Mexico to Interstate 65 northeast of Bay Minette, thus providing a hurricane evacuation route and a faster route between the resort area and points northward.
Looking south on Baldwin County 64 where it turns west to Loxley and splits with Baldwin County 83. Baldwin County 83 south continues to U.S. 90. In the near future, four lanes of Foley Beach Express will overtake Baldwin County 83 southward in this scene.
Source: “Hearing Tuesday on new I-10 Exit.” Mobile Press Register, May 13, 2007.
The Picture You have shown on this Web site is inaccurate to where the road will actually be. According to All the notices that have been sent. This is the wrong part of 83. The Part that is to be changed is not an existing HWY, but it starts with a dirt road off of 32 then heads north to ajoin 83 at 36 and 83 north, unless the route has been changed in the last month. Since May 2007.
If you know something we don’t could you please advise. Because according to the picture above, you have the wrong 83.
You are correct, that is the wrong section of Baldwin County 83, the one that leads north to Baldwin 36 (Greenwood Road). I’ve replaced that photograph with a more suitable entry, the section of Baldwin County 32 east of Baldwin County 73. County 32 and 73 intersect one mile west of where the Foley Beach Express will cross Baldwin 32.
The aforementioned dirt road is currently Baldwin County 28 North, and it ends at Baldwin County 28, another dirt road that leads west to Baldwin County 73 and Alabama 59. The new Foley Beach Express follows the Baldwin County 28 South dirt road right of way to Baldwin County 28, and Eagle Road (also a dirt road) north from there to Baldwin County 32 at Lehman Lane.