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Mobile City Council authorizes Volker contract for Riverwalk Plaza traffic study and design
Summary
The Mobile City Council authorized a contract with Volker for intersection improvements at Riverwalk Plaza in RSA Park that will include an in-depth traffic study to model scenarios with and without ALDOT ramps and to produce construction design work.
The Mobile City Council authorized a contract with Volker for intersection improvements at Riverwalk Plaza in RSA Park, including a comprehensive traffic study and design work to examine pedestrian safety and commercial-traffic impacts.
Council members and city staff said the study will analyze two scenarios: keeping the Interstate 10 ramps in place and removing them as previously proposed. A city staff member who described the contract told the council the work will "not only handle the traffic study, but the actual design of the construction." The staff member said a notice to proceed for at least part of the contract would be issued quickly and that would "commence the traffic study."
The study will test whether traffic flow can be reconfigured into a reverse-diamond design and will assess impacts on commercial traffic that uses Water Street. Council members noted that the outcome depends in part on Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) decisions and funding; the staff member said ALDOT may leave the ramps in place if sufficient funding is not available. The staff member also recalled that plans to remove some ramps date back to prior administrations.
Councilmember Brett asked whether the traffic study would take into account the new Mobile River Bridge. The staff member said the study would not alter the bridge project but that the bridge's final configuration "could have a significant impact" on the traffic study and, in particular, on northbound port and interstate traffic.
City officials framed the proposal as part of the broader "Activate the Riverfront" effort to improve pedestrian connections between downtown businesses and the riverfront. The contract as described covers both analysis and the subsequent design phase; timing for construction will depend on study outcomes and on coordination with ALDOT and other projects.
The action was introduced as an authorization of a contract with Volker for Riverwalk Plaza intersection improvements in RSA Park and was listed among the meeting’s consent items.
