The corporation has a list of powers, including continuing in existence, suing and being sued, using a seal, building and acquiring roadway property, exercising eminent domain, borrowing money, accepting funds, hiring staff, and making contracts.
The corporation shall have all of the following powers: (1) To have perpetual succession by its corporate name unless sooner dissolved pursuant to Section 23-1-160. (2) To maintain actions and have actions maintained against it and to prosecute and defend in any court having jurisdiction of the subject matter and of the parties. (3) To have and to use a corporate seal and to alter the same at pleasure. (4) To construct, reconstruct, and relocate, or to cause to be constructed, reconstructed, and relocated, public roads, bridges, and approaches thereto, tunnels, and other public roadway improvements, including work incidental or related thereto, in the State of Alabama. (5) To acquire by purchase, gift or condemnation or any other lawful means and to convey, or cause to be conveyed, any real, personal, or mixed property or materials necessary or convenient in connection with the construction, reconstruction, or relocation of public roads, bridges and approaches thereto, tunnels and other public roadway improvements in the State of Alabama. (6) To exercise the right of eminent domain as freely and completely as, and in the same manner that, the State of Alabama is empowered to exercise such right. (7) To borrow money for its corporate purposes and, in evidence of such borrowing, to sell and issue its bonds and to refund any thereof by the issuance of refunding bonds (any such bonds, including refunding bonds, being collectively referred to in this article as “bonds”). (8) To receive and accept aid, grants, funds, gifts, donations, contributions, and appropriations from any source, whether governmental or nongovernmental, of either money, revenues, appropriations, real or personal property, labor, or other things of value, and to pledge such amounts as security for payment of the principal of and the interest on bonds of the corporation. (9) To appoint and employ such officers, attorneys and agents as the business of the corporation may require. (10) To make and enter into contracts and agreements necessary for, or incidental to, the performance of its duties and the execution of its powers under this article, including contracts and agreements for professional services deemed necessary for such purposes by the corporation. In addition to and in conjunction with other authority to enter into contracts as may be provided by law, the corporation may enter into contracts, agreements, or understandings with, but not limited to, individuals, corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, or other private parties; public or private partnerships, or both, or other similar joint ventures; or the federal government, any department, agency, governmental or quasi-governmental body, public corporation, instrumentality, or subdivision of the United States, the State of Alabama, or any other state of the United States, or any agency, governmental or quasi-governmental body, instrumentality, or subdivision thereof for the construction, reconstruction, or relocation of any public road, bridge and approaches thereto, tunnel, other public roadway improvements, and work incidental or related thereto in the State of Alabama. (11) To make and enter into any agreement or agreements with any municipality, county, or public corporation in the state described in subsection (k) of Section 23-1-157.