“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost

It is not often we hear much from lieutenant governors in Alabama outside of election season.

Their only significant official duties in state government involve presiding over the Alabama State Senate, which is accomplished mostly outside public scrutiny; serving on various government committees and boards; and stepping into the governor’s position should the governor have to vacate it, which is how current Gov. Kay Ivey first assumed the governorship.

Unlike the U.S. president and vice president, Alabama governors and lieutenant governors run separately on the ballot. Due to the state’s propensity to go all-in with one political party, it was rare a governor and lieutenant governor represented separate political parties.

In fact, it never happened at all until 1987. We then went through an unprecedented period where the governor and lieutenant governor were from opposing parties for the next 24 years. The status quo settled back in when Ivey was elected to the position in 2010 while Republican Robert Bentley was elected governor at the same time.

When the governor and lieutenant governor share the same party, there is usually little benefit for the lieutenant governor to cause friction with the governor.

Lieutenant governors often have googly eyes for the governorship and try to use their term to gather political support behind the scenes while not causing controversies that could be used against them in future elections.

Conversely, current Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth has selected the road less traveled when it comes to the issue of, interestingly enough, roads.

Now I do not want to give the impression Ainsworth and Ivey are about to come to blows in the middle of Union Street in downtown Montgomery.

Nonetheless, Ainsworth made the unusual move last year to challenge the Ivey administration’s plans for the development of Alabama’s highway system, even going so far as to call for the firing of John Cooper, director of the Alabama Department of Transportation, a position in Ivey’s cabinet.

Ainsworth has been critical of ALDOT in several ways, including the agency’s proposal to create tolls to finance improvements for Interstate 10 as well as the financing of other transportation projects, but he has extended most of his energy on Interstate 65, the heavily trafficked artery stretching from Alabama’s northern border all the way to Mobile.

Ainsworth has thrown his support behind a proposal to widen I-65 to six lanes all the way through the state. The vast majority of the highway currently has only four lanes and, at times, can be prone to heavy congestion.

It is an issue of personal importance to Ainsworth. He resides in the Guntersville area and likely uses I-65 often to reach Montgomery.

It is also an issue of political strategy. I-65 runs through or nearby Alabama’s four largest cities making widening I-65 low-hanging political fruit that would appeal to a huge swath of voters should Ainsworth decide to run for governor in two years.

Part of Ainsworth’s criticism has been directed toward ALDOT’s plan, supported by Ivey, to make a stretch of U.S. Hwy. 43 and Alabama Hwy. 69 from south of Tuscaloosa to Thomasville in southwest Alabama into a four-lane highway. He believes money from this project would be better spent on widening I-65.

Ivey’s office retorted to Ainsworth’s criticism in a May 2023 statement to AL.com reporter John Sharp implying Ainsworth was only seeking “easy headlines.”

Ivey’s position appears to be the west Alabama highway project and widening I-65 is not an either-or issue, and Alabama can work on transportation needs throughout its borders. Ivey would announce a project to widen a section of I-65 south of Birmingham later in the summer of 2023.

Still, nothing in the year since this dustup between our two highest constitutional officers has slowed Ainsworth’s drumbeat for widening I-65 and getting the long-term project started as soon as possible.

Ainsworth rarely misses an opportunity to post a picture of being stuck in traffic on I-65 to his social media accounts. In addition, an organization known as the I-65 Coalition announced last week it will begin purchasing billboard space along I-65 to promote widening the highway to six lanes throughout the state. It calls its strategy to accomplish this goal “The Ainsworth Plan.”

Ainsworth seems to believe his road to higher office will be traveled on the interstate. We will have to wait a couple of years to see if this strategy leads to a smooth drive to the governor’s mansion or to a detour toward the pig trails outside government.