The expansion of Hwy. 15 has been a project widely talked about in Newton County since then Newton County Rep. Raymond Comans had the thoroughfare added to the list of roads covered by the 1987 bill to create a four-lane expansion across the state.
However, little has been done to move the project forward since Comans’ amendment to the bill.
His daughter, Cheryl Comans, said that bill provided funding for the project, but money has never been released to expand it.
Recently, the Newton County Appeal had an opportunity to ask the candidates in the general election for Central District Transportation Commission about the project.
Rep. Willie Simmons, D-Cleveland, met with local representatives at the Boler Building in Decatur to discuss the possibilities of expanding the road. He told the group and the Appeal that he would support adding a 10-cent gas tax, or user fee, to help pay for the roads that were included in the original bill and the amendments.
“I think we should finish all of the roads that mentioned in the original bill, but after that is completed, we need to finish up all of the other projects in the amendments,” Simmons said. “Hwy. 15 would be one of my top priorities after those projects in the original bill are finished if I am elected. It could create a huge economic impact for this area.
“This is the time to raise our gas tax because Alabama is doing it now. We don’t want to raise it so high that it’s not competitive with other states around us, but we can still raise it and be competitive.”
Butch Lee, R-Brandon, said while he understands that Simmons is supporting a gas tax increase, he feels like that’s something that should have already happened by now. While Lee understands that the Hwy. 15 expansion needs to happen, he didn’t want to make any promises at this time about the project.
“A lot of times in election years, you will have people making a lot of promises trying to get elected,” Lee said. “Mr. Simmons has already had many years to do this while he has been in the legislature.
“It would be great to expand Hwy. 15 as he is proposing, but there are many other needs in our state. Many of the roads we have expanded are in need or repair. We have a large number of bridges that need to be replaced. We haven’t been taking care of what we have right now.”
Simmons said the main stretch he is proposing to four-lane is from I-20 to Philadelphia. If they were to four-lane from I-20 to Laurel, he said they would need additional support from the Southern District Commissioner to get that project completed, as that segment is shared by both the Central and Southern districts.
