Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced on Monday that the bid will be let this month on the project to expand the final five-mile stretch of Interstate 565.
“I’m proud to report that at the end of this month, we are bid-letting the last five-mile section of Interstate 565,” Ivey said during her Alabama Update address at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. “This runs from County Line Road to the Wall Triana (Highway) interchange.
“As you all well know, this is a big project. When it’s all said and done, all of 565 will be at least six lanes across,” she said to the applause of the crowd of about 900 people at the Von Braun Center. “Before the end of my term as governor, I look forward to officially cutting the ribbon on this project and celebrating with all of you this much-needed road project.”
The Alabama Update was hosted by the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber at the VBC’s Saturn Ballroom. At Ivey’s Alabama Update speech two years ago, the I-565 expansion was one of three highway construction project announcements she made. The projects are part of the state’s Rebuild Alabama initiative.
The Rebuild Alabama Act, passed by the state legislature and signed by Ivey in 2019, requires the Alabama Department of Transportation to establish an annual program setting aside $10 million off the top of the state’s share of new gas tax revenue for local projects.
Much of Ivey’s speech on Monday focused on education, “the single most important issue facing our state.”
“This legislative session, I was proud we accomplished each of the goals as it related to education in Alabama,” she said.
“We fully funded the Literacy and Numeracy Acts,” Ivey said, referring to the laws that aim to improve the reading proficiency of kindergarten through third grade public school students and improve math instruction in the state. “Our sixth straight record education budget is helping us make other important investments, like in our students’ mental health and school safety.”
Ivey said a legislative priority for her was the passage of an education savings account plan to help more families “choose an education that best suits their child’s needs.
“We did that with the passage of the CHOOSE Act. Education is every child’s ticket to a successful future, and I’m proud we continue to prioritize our children,” she said.
In March, Ivey signed into law the CHOOSE Act, which creates a school-choice program to provide eligible families with as much as $7,000 to help pay for private school and $2,000 for homeschooling expenses.
“During our State of the State address, I also challenged our legislators to increase salaries for teachers so we could have the highest base salary for teachers among our neighboring states,” Ivey said. “We accomplished that.”
According to Ivey, the base pay for teachers has increased 24% since she’s been governor.
Discussing a future education option in the state, Ivey said she would be in Demopolis Tuesday to make it official that the Alabama School of Health Care Sciences will join the list of statewide specialty schools. Those include the Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering in Huntsville.
Ivey turned her attention to economic development, noting that during her years as governor, capital investments reached more than $49 billion, creating some 87,000 new jobs.
“Y’all, we’ve got momentum,” she said. “Now let’s keep it going and prepare for the economy of tomorrow.”
Ivey last week signed into law a bipartisan, six-bill package called the Working for Alabama package, an effort to reform workforce programs and get more Alabamians trained for skilled, high-paying jobs.
“While our unemployment rate remains historically low, our labor force participation rate stands only at 57.4%, one of the lowest in the nation,” Ivey said, adding that her administration remains committed to improving the participation rate.
“The legislation will certainly help us and all of you move the needle on workforce needs,” she said.
“The Working for Alabama legislative package is simply the latest bipartisan effort here in our state,” she said. “While it’s a real novelty in Washington, D.C, these days, in Alabama, we actually have a good track record of working together.”
Ivey has asked the new Alabama Commerce Secretary Ellen McNair and her team to develop a strategic plan to prepare the state for the 2030s.
Madison County Commission Chairman Mac McCutcheon, the former state House Speaker, said Ivey brought a meaningful change when she became governor by meeting with legislators to discuss state budgets before the start of a new session.
“You came in at a tough time, governor,” he said. Ivey was sworn in as Alabama’s 54th governor in 2017, becoming the first Republican woman to hold the office, after her predecessor Robert Bentley resigned. McCutcheon said that during her tenure, Ivey “has never forgotten about the people of Alabama.”
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