Mobile County has received the largest share of grant funding from the Rebuild Alabama Act, an initiative to spread around money collected from the state’s last gas tax increase five years ago.

The 2019 law raised the gas tax by 10 cents per gallon, generating $200 million per year.

And while the majority of that money funds Alabama Department of Transportation priorities, the state also created two pots of money, at least $40 million annually, that cities and counties can apply to for funding road projects. So far those funds combined have doled out $230 million.

Mobile County received more than $13 million for road projects, leading the state in the five funding cycles from 2020-2024. Saraland received $4.25 million of that money, the largest grant amount among Alabama cities.

Lawrence County, west of Huntsville in north Alabama and Bullock County in the Black Belt, got the least among counties in the state at $250,000 each.

When accounting for population, the biggest recipient was Perry County, home to about 8,500 residents in the Black Belt. The county received $2.8 million over the last five years. That comes out to just over $326 per person.

Based on population, Lawrence County, home to about 33,000, received the lowest amount, just under $8 per person.

That’s based on an analysis of how much money went to each county and the population of each county in the most recent headcount by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2020.

One of the pots of gas tax money includes a minimum of $10 million for county and city roads and locally maintained highway systems. The other provides a minimum of $30 million for state-maintained highways.

Local grant funds

The smaller pot of local money, known as the Annual Grant Program, has doled out $48 million since 2020. Jefferson County, Alabama’s largest county and home to 660,000 in the Birmingham metro, received the highest amount — $2.2 million.

When accounting for population, Greene County, home to 7,700 in the Black Belt, received the biggest amount of money. The county received $850,000 — just under $110 per person.

On the other end of the spectrum is Montgomery County. Home to nearly 229,000, the 7th largest county in Alabama and home to the state capitol, received just over $1 per resident.

In fact, receiving just $250,000 in five years, Montgomery shared the bottom of the list with seven much smaller counties.

State highway grants

The bigger pot of money, from the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program II, has doled out $181 million since 2020.

Mobile County received the most money: $11.8 million.

More than 170 cities requested money from the funds.

Phenix City, home to 38,000 people near the Georgia state line, received $600,000, more than any of the 120 other cities that received money from the Annual Grant Fund.

Mooresville, located just west of Huntsville at the intersection of Interstates 65 and 565, received the most money when considering population. Home to just under 50 residents, the town received $250,000. That comes out to $5,319 per capita.

From the ATRIP II fund for state highways, 77 cities received funding. But three led the pack with $4 million each: Dothan, in the southeast corner of Alabama, Hartselle in north Alabama, and Saraland, in Mobile County.