FOLEY – While traffic is on the rise on the Foley Beach Express, work on the highway is moving ahead of schedule.

Improvements to widen the Beach Express began earlier this summer. In May, the Alabama Department of Transportation purchased the bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway at the southern end of the expressway. The state removed the tolls that had been in place since the bridge opened in 2000.  

Since tolls were removed, traffic on the Foley Beach Express has increased, according to ALDOT reports.

The Foley City Council approved the widening project in 2023. Officials with ALDOT granted approval to seek bids on the project in the spring of 2024. 

Foley officials had hoped to get work started last fall before the height of the summer tourist season. The project is scheduled to take 250 working days. The schedule would mean that some work would be going on during tourist season regardless of when the project started.

Mayor Ralph Hellmich said the work on the busy highway has frustrated some drivers, but the project is progressing ahead of schedule.

“Our Foley Beach Express has tried the patience of people on that road, but the ALDOT/Foley contractor is ahead of schedule,” Hellmich said. “They have already widened the road. They are now in the paving portion of it.”

Hellmich said traffic has also dropped on Alabama 59 as the number of vehicles on the Beach Express has increased in recent weeks. He said reports from the Alabama Department of Transportation show that the number of vehicles on the Beach Express increased substantially after tolls were dropped.

He said the change has helped reduce the amount of traffic going through the center of Foley.

Since the fees were lifted over the Memorial Day weekend, 6,000 to 8,000 more vehicles are using the Beach Express each day, according to ALDOT reports.

In June 2024, more than 2.3 million vehicles crossed the Intracoastal Waterway using either the Beach Express and Alabama 59. 

On the Beach Express, the number of vehicles grew by 44% in June. In that month, Beach Express traffic increased by more than 257,000 from the same period in 2023.

The number of vehicles on Alabama 59 decreased. During the week of the July 4 holiday, about 47,000 fewer cars and trucks used that highway, according to ALDOT reports.

Crews are working under a contract with the city of Foley to widen the Foley Beach Express by adding shoulders on the route through the city. The city will transfer ownership of the Beach Express to ALDOT when the project is complete.