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Governor Addresses Auburn Transportation Conference

Transportation officials from across Alabama are meeting at Auburn University this week. Governor Bob Riley addressed the crowd Wednesday, saying the state is getting its money's worth out of road construction projects. However, there's always room for improvement.

Creating new roads and improving current ones is a yearly task across Alabama, and Governor Bob Riley said the Alabama Department of Transportation is handling it well.

"They've gone from having bids let of under $600 million, to four years later over $800 million for bids let with the same amount of revenue coming in," said Riley, R-Alabama.

However, the governor said more creative ways could bring in extra funds, such as working with private transportation entities.

"We don't have to reinvent the wheel. We can look at what other states are doing with public-private partnerships, what we can do with toll roads, what we can do with some really innovative ways to finance," Riley said.

ALDOT is utilizing a local resource to better manage road designs and improvements. Auburn University's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering is helping research and develop technologies and methods that allow state crews to work more efficiently.

"We've been heavily involved in bridge rehabilitation work through our Department of Civil Engineering and the Highway Research Center, as well as a lot of the work place safety issues that construction workers deal with," said Dr. Larry Benefield, Dean of Engineering.

Governor Riley said road construction is a high priority in east Alabama because of I-85. He said the amount of automotive-related announcements over the last two years has been tremendous, and giving suppliers good roads to travel on is crucial for economic development.