Gulf Shores, Ala. – (OBA) – State Route 161, currently the only north-south connection in town from Canal Road to State Route 182 or beach road in Orange Beach, is about to be expanded in scope possibly all the way to Interstate 10. The road is currently just 1.7 miles.

As part of the state’s project to build a bridge in Gulf Shores over the Intracoastal Waterway, Mayor Robert Craft said at the Oct. 17 council work session the state plans to call the bridge and the roadway connecting it to Cotton Creek Drive State Route 161.

“The initial phase of this is planned to go from 180 over the bridge to the north up to County Road 4 or Cotton Creek Drive,” Craft said. “It’ll go back to the east on to hit Roscoe Road and it will go up and that will be the main intersection there at Roscoe Road and it will be in some way signalized and be a traffic management system there.”

It will involve the city and county turning over portions of Cotton Creek Drive and Roscoe Road to state control and renamed as State Route 161. In Orange Beach, State Route 180 from Doc's Seafood Shack to the new bridge could possibly be called by both 180 and 161.

“We will be giving them from the intersection of the northern road from the bridge from there where it will hit County Road 4 back to the east and it’s the Cotton Creek that’s in the city,” Craft said. “We’ll go to the bridge. Not the new bridge but the Cotton Creek bridge. We’ll be giving them that and then from there on its Baldwin County that owns the rest of that road.”

City Engineer Mark Acreman said Alabama Department of Transportation crews were on Cotton Creek Drive recently.

“ALDOT was on Cotton Creek Drive today testing the asphalt along the route,” Acreman said at the same meeting. “We had some reports of some drill rigs on Cotton Creek, went to investigate and they were doing core samples on Cotton Creek drive to see what kind of roadway improvements they’ll have to do in addition to the bridge itself. So, they definitely already have a physical presence in town.”

Initially, plans called for a spur road going north from Cotton Creek Drive through a right of way the state bought in in 2019 in preparation for this project. Plans called for that spur road to intersect with the Beach Express about a half mile south of Coastal Gateway Boulevard where a roundabout was also planned.

Mike Collins, a resident of Craft Farms, first presented concerns about a planned flyover bridge at that intersection and how unsightly and noisy it would be for him and his neighborhood. Collins asked about the plan again at the Oct. 17 meeting and Craft revealed the plans for the Cotton Creek Drive-Roscoe Road route to reach the Beach Express from the new bridge and roadway.

“That roundabout in the middle of the world up there, that is not going to happen,” Craft said. “It’s going to Roscoe Road. And then eventually the spur road that goes to the middle of all the properties will be built.”

But the extension of State Route 161 won’t stop there, Craft said he was told by ALDOT Director John Cooper.

“It's also my understanding that this will become State Road 161 that comes through Orange Beach that will come over and hit this and it will be state highway all the way up until it gets to the Beach Express,” Craft said. “I know there’s conversations in play between the county and city of Foley of giving the Foley Beach Express to the state and the state would take 161 from Interstate 10 all the way to the beach in Orange Beach. That’s the plan as I know it. I’m telling you what I’ve heard mostly from John Cooper so it’s as solid as it can be there.”

Cooper also told Craft the contract with Scott Bridge Company out of Opelika had been executed with the lowest conforming bid of the three received at $51.8 million. ALDOT spokesman Tony Harris said a target date for finishing the new bridge and roadway to Cotton Creek Drive is Jan. 1, 2026.