Mobile has a port, too. It actually isn’t as much of a dink-hole as Montgomery, especially if you factor in Baldwin County.
I-85 is more east-west than north-south, and will be even more E-W if they ever get around to extending it through through west Alabama to I-59. Maybe they could if some of that money being sent to fund traffic cops in Kiev was spent on US infrastructure instead.
I grew up in Mobile and it’s a dink-hole. It has grown some in the last 20 years - especially West Mobile. Baldwin County is where the boom really is. Alas, the City of Six Flags is filled with corruption (Democrats) and the same ole George Wallace good ole boy back slapping politics.