After more than 60 years of service, the westbound Tensaw River Bridge along the U.S. 90/U.S. 98 Causeway is being replaced in Spanish Fort, Alabama. The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) and general contractor Scott Bridge Construction Co. LLC are building the new bridge to serve traffic between Mobile and Baldwin counties and improve pedestrian access along the causeway.
Built in 1965, the westbound Tensaw River Bridge has exceeded its design life. While it presents no current safety issues, the bridge’s bearings are corroded. Repairing it would cost millions of dollars, so ALDOT determined that replacing the bridge was the more sensible option.
The new bridge will span 1,450 feet and include a 6-foot inside shoulder, a 10-foot outside shoulder, and a 10-foot-wide multi-use path. The pedestrian path is new and will connect with bike lanes.
“It’s part of the City of Spanish Fort’s Master Plan to make the U.S. 90/U.S. 98 Causeway area more pedestrian-friendly,” said James Gordon, Communications and Public Relations Coordinator at ALDOT.
People fish along the causeway and near the bridge, so the pedestrian path will provide better and safer access.
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Valor Park, a new park under construction, is expected to open in early November.
The bridge sits near Battleship Memorial Park. The popular 100-acre park features Korean and Vietnam veterans memorials, displays of tanks, aircraft from every era since World War II, and a Vietnam river patrol boat.
This section of southwest Alabama sees significant activity, and the bridge plays an important role in the transportation system. The average daily traffic on the U.S. 90/U.S. 98 Causeway is 27,150 vehicles. However, the number fluctuates greatly.
“This assumes there are no issues on Interstate 10,” ALDOT Assistant Region Engineer Brian Aaron said. “U.S. 90/U.S. 98 parallels I-10, so when there are traffic issues such as crashes or congestion there, traffic diverts to this route.”
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He added that traffic counts are higher in the summer as people head to various tourist destinations along the Gulf Coast of Alabama and Florida.
Once the new bridge is complete, the contractor will demolish the old bridge.
Because construction is taking place in the water, the team had to consider the impact on fish and other marine and plant life. The team has worked with the necessary federal agencies, including the Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to understand the area’s marine life and develop a plan to minimize impacts.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, several threatened or endangered species inhabit the area, including gulf sturgeon and manatees.
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“The contractor is limited to three hours a day of working in the water, including driving pile, so we don’t negatively impact marine life,” Aaron said. “The federal agencies were concerned about the vibrations and how they affect the manatee and other marine life.”
Once the team begins driving piles in the water, a clock starts. The three hours can occur at any point during the day and can be divided into shorter increments. When work begins, a manatee habitat spotter monitors the activity and tracks the time to ensure the team stays within the permitted work period.
In a marine environment like this, barges are essential. All the piles and girders came in by barge, and transporting the equipment is not simple.
“The bay is very shallow and can be even dry for hundreds of yards from shore when there are multiple days with strong north winds accompanied by low tides,” Aaron said. “Contractors transporting the equipment must take precautions and stay within the river where the water is sufficiently deep to get the equipment to the construction site.”
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He added that the river itself is consistently deep at around 30 feet mid-channel.
The team is performing much of the bridge construction from barges. They provide access for crews and equipment to areas that would be difficult to reach from land.
The area around the bridge has a high water table and poor soils. Therefore, the team needed to install nearly 1 million feet of wick drains and then place surcharge fill to consolidate the poor soils and allow for construction of the approaches.
According to ALDOT, the new bridge will be a “durable concrete structure designed to withstand the elements and improve structural integrity.” The bridge is in a brackish-water environment where fresh and saltwater mix, making it more corrosive. That is why the team chose concrete instead of steel.
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“We set up lane closures on the existing adjacent bridge, and we receive delivery of and then pump the concrete from that structure,” Aaron said. “There are clear traffic patterns on the Tensaw [River] Bridge with lots of commuters traveling westbound in the morning and eastbound in the evening.”
The team pours concrete and shuts down an eastbound lane when traffic volumes are lower. This has allowed them to complete the work without major issues related to lane closures.
Alabama requires contractors to be selected based on low bid. Aaron said he was pleased that Scott Bridge Construction won the bid and called the company a “generational contractor.”
“They’ve been around a long time, and they do great work,” he said.
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Gordon added that the company works with ALDOT regularly and recently completed another complex bridge project nearby in Gulf Shores over the Intracoastal Waterway.
Scott Bridge Construction was founded in 1933 and is based in Opelika, Alabama. The family-owned, fourth-generation bridge and heavy civil contractor provides construction and emergency response services for complex highway, railroad, marine, and energy infrastructure.
The partnership with ALDOT has been successful so far. The $79 million project is on budget, which Aaron attributes to good planning.
“There have been some overruns, but that’s inherent to bridge building. Those things happen,” he said. “However, we’re within the contingency, and there have been few surprises.”
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The project is receiving funding from both the federal and state governments. The federal government is covering 80 percent, while the state is handling the remaining 20 percent.
Favorable weather has also helped keep the project on budget and on schedule, with little rain in the area.
Construction on the project began in winter 2025 and is expected to wrap up in fall 2027.
“This project has required a good deal of communication, as there are many people who use the causeway and there’s lots of traffic,” Gordon said. “It’s also a tourism corridor, and it moves goods and freight as well.”
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He added that nearby I-10, which runs nearly 2,500 miles from Santa Monica, California, to Jacksonville, Florida, impacts the entire country and that the interstate and the U.S. 90/U.S. 98 Causeway are vital to the overall economy.
ALDOT and Scott Bridge Construction are on track to complete the replacement of the westbound Tensaw River Bridge. Once complete, the new bridge will provide a safe, reliable crossing for local and regional traffic while also improving pedestrian access for years to come.
- Owner/Designer: Alabama Department of Transportation
- General Contractor: Scott Bridge Construction, Opelika, Alabama
- Engineer: Thompson Engineering, Mobile, Alabama
- Other Contractors: Wiregrass Construction Co. Inc., Dothan, Alabama; McInnis Construction LLC, Summerdale, Alabama
