Living in L.A. "Lower Alabama"

I never thought we would get to a point where Alabama is run better than Louisiana, but here we are.

Spent a long weekend in Foley with a in-law (no pics) who just bought a house there - new construction - about 6 weeks ago. We had a cheer competition at the Wharf that we were in town for. Saw a number of things that made me curious, and was wondering if any posters live full time in the area.

1) First, the bad thing... the fact that the Mobile tunnel still is the way it is, is a level of incompetence that only the Louisiana DOTD can be proud of.

2) The house was just built in a small new0ish neighborhood in I guess what you would call the South of Foley... right off 59, almost to Gulf Shores city line. I don't know if it's new codes or just a good builder or what, but the construction was different. All metal roof, but not a flat roof... a normal pitched roof, just with metal. No brick, instead, all what appears to be some form of Hardie plank exterior. Almost no useable attic space because the attic is basically a ton of reinforcing tresses holding up the roof. Every exterior door frame and window frame has screw holes - plugged with screwes - in which to screw in a storm shutter - the shutters come with the new house purchase.

3) The Foley Beach Express toll bridge has an app, that you download the app, load money into your account, and when you pull up, you just type in your lane number and it charges it. No toll tag needed and no cash needed. They also take debit and credit cards in the lanes.

4) The entire area seems to be booming. Lots of new retail and restuarants being built. Now, Foley pretty much is close to running into Gulf Shores, and I'm guessing in a few years, there will be no green space between the two on 59.

5) Hwy 59... the traffic from Downtown Foley to basically the Intracoastal bridge wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Yes, there are a lot of red lights... but I'm guessing the beach express has worked to take tourists off of 59?

6) Publix is a nice store and they seem to have a lot of fresh prepared stuff, but holy batman their non-sale prices on regular groceries are insane. Worst than Winn Dixie.

7) How are the schools there? We passed by Orange Beach Middle/High which looked brand new. My in law, who kids are all out of school, said that co-workers have told her that Foley HS is not as good as OB High or Gulf Shores high, but that Foley HS is still far better than a lot of what you find in Louisiana.