Blakeley Island (Alabama)

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Cochrane-Africatown USA Bridge on the northern side of the island. Cochrane-Africatown USA Bridge May 2012.jpg
Cochrane-Africatown USA Bridge on the northern side of the island.
The eastern entrance of the Bankhead Tunnel on the southern side of the island. Bankhead Tunnel Going West.jpg
The eastern entrance of the Bankhead Tunnel on the southern side of the island.

Blakeley Island is an island in the U.S. state of Alabama, within the city limits of Mobile. Located on the northwestern coast of Mobile Bay, it is bounded on the west by the Mobile River, on the south by Pinto Island and Mobile Bay, and on the east and north by the Spanish River. Blakeley serves as a vital road connection point between the Bankhead Tunnel, George Wallace Tunnel, and Cochrane–Africatown USA Bridge on its east side and the Battleship Parkway and Jubilee Parkway on its west side. The northern end is largely undeveloped, while the southern end is dedicated to industrial uses, primarily petrochemical storage and shipbuilding. The largest complex is the shipyards of Austal USA. Approximately 1.25 miles (2.01 km) at its widest and 6 miles (9.7 km) at its longest, it has an average elevation of 7 feet (2.1 m). [1] It, along with downtown, forms District Two of Mobile's city council districts. [2]

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George Wallace Tunnel

The George Wallace Tunnel is a pair of road tunnels that carry Interstate 10 through Mobile, Alabama from the city's downtown, going beneath the Mobile River, and emerging on Blakeley Island where they join the Jubilee Parkway over Mobile Bay.

Bankhead Tunnel

The Bankhead Tunnel, formally the John H. Bankhead Tunnel, is a road tunnel in Mobile, Alabama that carries Government Street under the Mobile River from Blakeley Island to the downtown Mobile business district. It is named for John H. Bankhead, an Alabama politician and U.S. Senator who was also the grandfather of actress Tallulah Bankhead. It, like the larger George Wallace Tunnel a few blocks downriver from it, was constructed in Mobile at the shipyards of the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company (ADDSCO), from 1938-1940. The eastern end of the Bankhead Tunnel features a large "flood door" that can be closed to prevent water from Mobile Bay flooding the tunnel during surges from hurricanes or tropical storms. It was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on January 25, 1977.

Interstate 10 (I-10) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from Santa Monica, California, to Jacksonville, Florida. In Alabama, the Interstate Highway runs 66.269 miles (106.650 km) from the Mississippi state line near Grand Bay east to the Florida state line at the Perdido River. I-10 is the primary east–west highway of the Gulf Coast region of Alabama. The highway connects Mobile, the largest city in South Alabama, with Pascagoula, Mississippi, to the west and Pensacola, Florida, to the east. Within the state, the highway connects Mobile and Mobile County with the Baldwin County communities of Daphne and Fairhope. I-10 connects Mobile and Baldwin County by crossing the northern end of Mobile Bay and the southern end of the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta via the George Wallace Tunnel in Mobile and the Jubilee Parkway viaduct system between Mobile and Daphne.

Jubilee Parkway

The Jubilee Parkway is a pair of parallel concrete viaduct bridges that carry Interstate 10 across Mobile Bay from the George Wallace Tunnel on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama eastbound to Spanish Fort/Daphne, Alabama. The bridges are similar in design to the pre-Hurricane Katrina I-10 Twin Span Bridge near New Orleans, Louisiana. Each of the two bridges is two lanes wide, for a total of four lanes, and 7.5 miles (12.1 km) long. The parkway was completed in 1978 and crosses the northern portion of Mobile Bay, running roughly parallel to the nearby Battleship Parkway, with which it has an interchange. It was named for the jubilee phenomenon that occurs intermittently in Mobile Bay, but is commonly referred to locally and in the media as the "Bayway".

Battleship Parkway, commonly referred to locally and in the media as the "Causeway", is a 7-mile (11.3 km) long causeway that carries US 90 and US 98 eastbound across Mobile Bay from the Bankhead Tunnel on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama to Spanish Fort, Alabama. The roadway itself is a four-lane divided highway for most of its length. It is very susceptible to flooding and is usually submerged during hurricane storm surges. The Battleship Parkway is home to Battleship Memorial Park and to many of the Mobile area's more prominent seafood restaurants.

Mobile–Tensaw River Delta

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Government Street (Mobile, Alabama)

Government Street is the name given to portions of U.S. Route 90 (US 90) and US 98 within the city limits of Mobile, Alabama. It is known as Government Boulevard west of Pinehill Drive, and as Government Street east of it. It is the most important road on Mobile's far south side and is the only nominally east–west road on Mobile's south side to enter the city from outside the western city limits and reach the downtown business district. The only other two east–west thoroughfares in the city to do so are Moffett Road/Springhill Avenue and Old Shell Road. Government Street is a four-lane highway throughout the city limits, from Water Street to the western city limits. It is the only thoroughfare in Mobile to have interchanges with both Interstate 10 (I-10) and I-65 within the city limits.

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Pinto Island

Pinto Island is an island in the U.S. state of Alabama, within the city limits of Mobile. Located on the northwestern coast of Mobile Bay, it is bounded on the west by the Mobile River, on the south by Mobile Bay, on the east by the Spanish River, and on the north by Pinto Pass and Blakeley Island. It is dedicated to industrial uses, primarily shipbuilding. The BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards was originally the site of the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company, and most recently Atlantic Marine, which was acquired by BAE in 2010. The Alabama State Port Authority operates a terminal on the southern end of the island for the ThyssenKrupp steel plant upriver in Calvert. Austal USA owns part of this Island chain taking up most of the central part with a stocking shop channel on the west bank. In June 2018 BAE Systems Southeast completed a total shutdown of all facilities on Pinto Island, selling all their land and ship yards to Austal USA, giving Austal USA 51% control of Pinto Island land area from center to South shore.

The Spanish River is a brackish distributary river that forms part of the border between Baldwin and Mobile counties in Alabama. It is approximately 8 miles (13 km) long and is influenced by tides. It begins at the northernmost tip of Blakeley Island, where it diverges from the Mobile River, at 30.772°N 88.0222°W. From there it flows along the eastern edge of Blakeley and Pinto islands, and discharges into Mobile Bay south of Pinto Island, at 30.665°N 88.021°W.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Blakeley Island
  2. "City Wide Council Districts" (PDF). City of Mobile. Retrieved May 7, 2012.

Coordinates: 30°43′16″N88°1′39″W / 30.72111°N 88.02750°W / 30.72111; -88.02750