MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Alabama state lawmaker George Clark announced on Friday the launch of a new campaign to widen Interstate 65 to three lanes in each direction from Huntsville to Mobile, and an associated nonprofit organization dubbed the Go Wide I-65 Coalition.
Clark was an Alabama House of Representatives member in the early 2000s and is perhaps better known as the founder and former president of Manufacture Alabama, a trade association that advocates for policy favorable to manufacturers. He told Alabama Daily News Friday that the campaign is an effort to coalesce support behind widening all 366 miles of I-65 to three lanes.
The campaign has already raised $200,000 from individuals Clark described as “business leaders and economic developers” that “depend on our transportation system,” and will see “hundreds” of billboards marketing the campaign set up across the state.
“You’ve got to have political leaders and the public to get behind some of these projects to make them happen, and that’s the real purpose of the Go Wide I-65 (Coalition); it will help economic development and tourism, transportation, (and) safety on our highways,” Clark told ADN.
Under what Clark has dubbed the “Ainsworth Plan,” named after Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth who has long advocated for widening I-65, the highway’s widening is proposed to be done over a multi-year period, one section at a time.
Ainsworth did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Clark said he did not work with Ainsworth, a probable candidate for governor in 2026, to launch the campaign.
“I haven’t even discussed this with the lieutenant governor; he’s probably aware of it now, and I look forward to having a conversation with him,” Clark said.
“If you have an elected official that’s in the position that he’s in, and possibly has a continued future in Alabama politics, that has taken a public stance on something that I’ve been in favor of for two decades, I have a tendency to want to help him if I’m able to do that.”
Under the plan, sections would be given priority that rank the highest in the following four categories; population impact, traffic congestion, vehicle accident frequency, and economic potential.
With an average cost of $6 million per mile for rural interstate sections, and $10 million for urban, the entire project is projected to cost billions. However, with most interstate widening projects funded with federal dollars to the tune of 80%, and with a long-term, multi-phased approach, Clark argued the project was well within the realm of possibility.
As a first step, however, Clark said he wants to first build mass support for the project.
“I’m realistic enough to know that it’s not going to be done in a year or two,” he said. “If we get started with it, the momentum to fund it will grow every year.”
“I-65, it is a connection between Mobile and the Great Lakes, and brings the Midwest into play in terms of economic development, and not to mention tourism into the state of Alabama.”
Currently, there are 80 miles of I-65 widened to three lanes, with nine more miles in development, leaving about 277 miles at two lanes.
Another proponent of widening I-65 has been Gov. Kay Ivey, whose spokesperson, Gina Maiola, told ADN Friday that widening I-65 remained a top priority for the governor.
“We appreciate having the support of the coalition and lieutenant governor in this ongoing infrastructure priority of Gov. Ivey,” Mailoa said.
Alabama is also now better positioned to fund such a large project, Clark argued, thanks in large part to the Rebuild Alabama Act, part of a three-bill package adopted in 2019 that increased taxes on fuel to help the state pay for roads and bridges.
“For years, the Alabama Department of Transportation has really not had the funds to do anything but maintenance work,” he said.
“We’re in a different environment now, and I think it’s time for leaders like Ainsworth to step up and say we’re in a better financial position than we were five years ago, now let’s make I-65 a priority.”