The Beach Express Bridge Stopped Charging Tolls in 2024, and Half the Internet Missed It

There are two road bridges onto the island that Gulf Shores and Orange Beach sit on. One carries Highway 59 into Gulf Shores through a string of traffic signals in Foley. The other is the Foley Beach Express, which runs about thirteen and a half miles from State Route 59 north of Foley to Orange Beach and crosses the Intracoastal Waterway on its own span.

For most of its life that span charged a toll, which had risen to five dollars a crossing. On 23 May 2024 the Alabama Department of Transportation, having bought the bridge, removed the toll. The Beach Express is now free.

Why this is worth a post of its own

Because a large amount of published travel advice about this coast still tells visitors to carry cash or to budget for the crossing, and because the toll was the main reason people avoided the route.

Removing it changes the arithmetic of arrival day. The Express bypasses every signal on Highway 59 through Foley, which is the single worst stretch of road in the destination between roughly ten in the morning and two in the afternoon on a summer Saturday, when almost every rental on the coast changes over at once.

Which bridge to use

Coming from I-10 and staying in Orange Beach or the east end, the Beach Express is now the obvious route: faster and no longer more expensive.

Staying in central or west Gulf Shores, Highway 59 still lands you closer, and the Express means doubling back west along the coast.

On a changeover Saturday, the Express is worth taking even with a Gulf Shores booking if the alternative is sitting in the Foley signals.

Either way, do the big grocery shop in Foley on the way in rather than at the beach, since the larger stores sit on the route and the beach-town shops on a July Saturday are unpleasant.

Traffic arrangements on this coast change with roadworks and with the season. Check the day's conditions rather than relying on a route that worked last summer.