Why Spanish Fort's New Causeway Park Is Still Waiting on the Tide

Valor Park was supposed to be open by now. The 2-acre park on U.S. 98, between Felix's Fish Camp and the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, was listed in July with a "late summer" opening. On September 21, the Spanish Fort City Council approved a third change order of about $79,542.46. The money covers raising some sidewalk sections, adding riprap and improving erosion control. Completion is now projected for early November, or before Thanksgiving. According to the meeting summary, the extra work is meant to deal with incoming tides and water at the site.

That one item explains the whole Causeway this fall. A park meant to stabilize the shoreline had to be raised because the shoreline kept reaching it. Next door, a bridge replacement pushed back the park's start date. Every project between Spanish Fort and the Battleship is running on the water's schedule.

What the Change Order Pays For

City staff told the council the money goes to repairs and elevation changes on certain sidewalk areas, plus more riprap to support the site against tides and water. The council suspended its rules to approve the item the same night it was presented. That vote put the finish date about two and a half months out.

The change order is small next to the main contract. In October 2025, the council named APAC Alabama the lowest responsible bidder for the site work, at $1,975,044.50. The roughly $79,500 adjustment comes to about 4 percent of that bid. It went to the part of the park that sits lowest against the bay, the paths visitors will walk.

The weather had already slowed the schedule. In July, Mayor Brad Bass told WKRG that summer rain and heat had delayed construction. He also said the project was still on budget and might come in under it.

"I think it will be a good thing for folks to safely walk. They'll be parking spots. Observation point, as I mentioned, as well as the ability to fish there from the seawall." Mayor Brad Bass, speaking to WKRG in July

A Park Built to Hold the Shoreline

Being tested by the tide is close to the reason Valor Park exists. The city's groundbreaking announcement describes it as an environmental stewardship and public recreation project. Its stated goals are shoreline stabilization, wildlife and scenery viewing, and public access to the water. Anchor QEA is the project's coastal engineering partner. GMC handles civil engineering, landscape architecture and surveying, and APAC-Alabama is the general contractor.

The funding follows the same purpose. Gulf Coast Media reported $3 million in GoMESA funding, the federal program that shares offshore energy revenue with Gulf states. The park also received a separate $7,500 grant from the National Association of Realtors.

The finished park is meant to be quiet. Plans call for 40 parking spaces, sidewalks, picnic tables, a viewing deck and a large pavilion, with a view across to the Battleship. At the February groundbreaking, Bass called it passive recreation, with walking trails and a safer place to fish along the shoreline. He has also called it a welcoming entrance point into Spanish Fort. None of the project materials explain where the name "Valor" comes from.

The Bridge Next Door Caused the First Delay

The tide is the second thing to push Valor Park's timeline. The first was the Tensaw River Bridge. Bass told WKRG the park's groundbreaking was postponed because of construction on the new bridge. Ground was eventually broken on February 13, 2026.

ALDOT's project replaces the westbound span of the Tensaw–Spanish River crossing on the U.S. 90 Causeway near Battleship Park. The listed cost is $78,867,874.96. In late 2023, the replacement was estimated at $45.5 million and expected by summer 2024. ALDOT now projects completion in fall 2027.

The new bridge also adds something the Causeway has been short on. The general contractor is Scott Bridge Construction Co., LLC. It is building a concrete span with a dedicated pedestrian and bicycle path, aligned south of the existing eastbound bridge. The traffic plan FOX10 described in 2025 keeps the current westbound bridge open until the new one is ready. After that, the current eastbound span would carry westbound traffic and the new span would carry eastbound traffic. ALDOT's current project record says crews may close lanes outside peak travel times.

Together, the park sidewalks and the bridge path are the first two pieces of a Causeway built for people on foot. Both are being built at the water's edge, and both have run past their first schedules.

Overhead, the Bayway Is About to Change Too

The largest project in the area runs above the Causeway, not on it. On September 18, the federal government announced a TIFIA loan of up to $2.52 billion for the I-10 Mobile River Bridge. FOX10 reported that ALDOT planned to start construction the following month. Phase 1 builds a new river bridge and restripes the existing Bayway to three lanes in each direction. A Bayway replacement is planned as a later phase.

The Causeway matters here because it remains the toll-free alternative to the Bayway. It already takes the overflow when the interstate jams. On Labor Day, westbound Bayway traffic slowed to a crawl most of the day, and the Causeway was backed up too. AL.com has reported that Bayway congestion spills into Spanish Fort and onto U.S. 98 at peak times. No published plan names closures that would affect Valor Park or the Causeway restaurants. The new 40-space lot will still open beside a road that already fills up whenever I-10 does.

The Fall Calendar Before the Park Opens

For now, the Battleship is the main draw on this stretch of the Causeway, and its fall calendar runs past Valor Park's projected finish:

• October 10: The 10th Annual Bras Across the CAUSEway 5K and Fun Run, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• October 24: The October Living History Drill, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is open to the public and included with general admission.
• November 11: A Veterans Day observance and Parade of Flags, plus the Mobile Pops' annual Veterans Day concert.
• November 15: The Keesler Federal Battleship 12K, 8 to 11:30 a.m., on a course that runs along Highway 98 to the park.

The 12K is the date to watch. Its route uses the same stretch of U.S. 98 as Valor Park, and it falls right around the city's projected completion date.

Until the seawall opens, the nearest public fishing and paddling access on the Causeway is at Meaher State Park. It has a fishing pier, a boat ramp, paddling launches and kayak and canoe rentals. The restaurants along the water are open as usual. Felix's Fish Camp, Bluegill Restaurant, Original Oyster House and Ralph & Kacoo's all appear in Visit Mobile's Causeway listings, and all show current signs of operating. Felix's sits right next to the Valor Park site.

The next Spanish Fort City Council meeting and work session is October 5. Any further Valor Park schedule changes would come up there first.

If you're weighing a waterfront property on the Eastern Shore and want to know how the Causeway projects affect access, traffic or time on the water, Will Henriksen is glad to talk it through. Let's connect.