.jpg)
You’ve probably been there. Sitting on I-65 near Priceville, staring at a sea of brake lights while your GPS recalculates for the tenth time. It’s frustrating. Alabama’s roads are constantly shifting right now, and if you're relying on a paper map or a three-day-old radio report, you're basically driving blind.
Honestly, the way we talk about road closings in Alabama is usually all wrong. People think it’s just random bad luck. It isn't. Most of these "surprises" are part of massive, multi-year projects like the I-59 widening in Trussville or the colossal I-10 Mobile River Bridge project that’s finally gaining real momentum in 2026.
If you want to keep your sanity—and your tires—intact, you have to know where the actual bottlenecks are today.
Why Alabama Road Closings Are Messing Up Your Commute Right Now
We are in a heavy construction cycle. ALDOT (Alabama Department of Transportation) is currently juggling several high-stakes projects that aren't just simple repaving jobs. They are structural overhauls.
✨ Don't miss: Removing the Department of Education: What Really Happened with the Plan to Shutter the Agency
Take the I-59 corridor in Trussville. As of January 2026, the northbound lanes are undergoing a major shift. If you're coming from Birmingham toward Gadsden, the lanes have been squeezed and shifted to the outside. This isn't a weekend thing; this phase is expected to linger for months. ALDOT is even planning to shut down the Chalkville Mountain Road ramps (Exit 141) for a 40-day stretch later this year. If that’s your exit, you've gotta find a new way home.
Down south, the Baldwin County area is essentially one giant orange cone. The Intracoastal Waterway Bridge and the SR-161 Connector are about 85% done, which is great news, but the final push means intermittent closures that can turn a quick beach run into a slow crawl.
The Real-Time Danger Zones
- I-65 (Morgan/Limestone County): Rogers Group is deep into a $16 million resurfacing project. They’ve been doing daytime patching recently to get ahead of winter potholes. If you're driving between Hartselle (Exit 328) and Priceville (Exit 334), expect single-lane closures.
- US-72 (Florence): The "Florence Boulevard" widening is a mess. It’s expanding to six lanes. While they try to keep work to the night hours, they’ve had to revert to daytime closures when the asphalt leveling gets complicated.
- I-20 (Newton/Hickory): There is ongoing bridge replacement work that has forced traffic onto detours. Don't ignore the signs here; the merges are tight.
The Mobile River Bridge: A Massive Shift
For years, the I-10 Mobile River Bridge was just a "maybe." Now, it's a "definitely." This is the biggest project in ALDOT history, and it’s finally moving into the heavy construction phase in early 2026.
🔗 Read more: Quién ganó para presidente en USA: Lo que realmente pasó y lo que viene ahora
The goal is to bypass the Wallace Tunnel, which was built for half the traffic it currently carries. Because the new bridge will allow hazardous materials (which are currently banned from the tunnels), you're going to see a lot of staging work and lane shifts near the downtown Mobile interchanges. If you're hauling freight or just heading to the coast, this is the one to watch.
The Tensaw River Bridge replacement on US-90 is also well underway. This affects anyone heading toward the USS Alabama Battleship Park. They’re replacing the westbound structure, and while it’s mostly "work-around" traffic, the lane narrowing makes it a prime spot for fender benders.
How to Stay Ahead of the Closures
Kinda seems like too much to track, right? It is. That’s why you shouldn't just wing it.
💡 You might also like: Patrick Welsh Tim Kingsbury Today 2025: The Truth Behind the Identity Theft That Fooled a Town
The ALGO Traffic app is still the gold standard for this. It gives you live feeds from those overhead cameras, so you can see if the I-65 backup is actually "five minutes" or "pack a lunch" long.
Also, keep an eye on local county notices. For instance, Baldwin County just announced a series of cross-drain replacements on Pollard Road and County Road 55 for mid-to-late January 2026. These aren't on the big interstate maps, but they'll ruin your day if you live in the area.
Quick Survival Tips for Alabama Drivers:
- Check the "Letting" Dates: ALDOT holds project "lettings" (where they award contracts) every few months. A big one is scheduled for January 30, 2026. New contracts mean new orange barrels about 30 to 60 days later.
- Night vs. Day: In Cullman and Limestone counties, the I-65 work is mostly 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. If you can shift your travel to the daytime, you’ll miss the worst of the lane closures.
- The West Alabama Corridor: If you’re traveling through the Black Belt toward Demopolis, be aware that hundreds of workers are now on-site for the corridor expansion. It’s a lot of heavy machinery moving near the road.
Road closings in Alabama aren't going away anytime soon, especially with the 2026 budget priorities focusing on intersection safety in places like Athens (specifically US-72 at Cambridge Lane). The state is aggressively pursuing expansion to keep up with growth, but that means we all have to pay the "tax" of a little extra seat time.
Next Steps for Your Commute:
Before you head out, open the ALGO Traffic map and specifically check for "Incident Reports" rather than just "Construction." Often, the construction causes a secondary accident that isn't reflected in the scheduled closing times. If you're in the Trussville area, start mapping out your alternate route for the Chalkville Mountain Road closure now, as the detour through US-11 is expected to be heavily congested once the ramps officially shut down.