Tennessee Senate Approves Plan For Toll Lanes, Road Funding Boost
Image Credit: shutterstock
The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
Tennessee’s Senate voted to approve Gov. Bill Lee’s Transportation Modernization Act late Monday with a 26-5 vote.
The bill would put $3.3 billion into the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Transportation Modernization Fund and send it in equal portions to the state’s three Grand Divisions for road work, which the state says there is a $26 billion backlog that needs to be completed.
“I feel like this will be a transformational change,” Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville. “… this bill makes a big effort in addressing our road needs.”
The companion House Bill 321 is scheduled to be heard in the Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday.
A large priority of Senate Bill 273 is to begin having private companies build toll lanes in the state. The lanes would be additional lanes built after a deal is made between the state and the entity.
Massey has given an example of a deal where the private company would pay for 80% of the work and the state would fund 20% and then the private company would earn back its spending through tolls on the additional lanes, which Massey said could relieve congestion in both the current lanes and the toll lanes.
The lanes would be leased to companies but the state would maintain ownership of the road. The bill excludes businesses from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from receiving contracts through the program.
TDOT usually receives $500 million in annual construction funding for the backlog on infrastructure needs and the bill is intended to speed up that work by spending the state’s funding on more rural roadways and using more private funding for the state’s main highways through toll lanes.
The bill also will increase registration fees for electric vehicles, starting at $200 next year and then rising to $274 before the increases are tied to the consumer price index with a 3% annual cap starting in 2027. Hybrid vehicles will begin at $100 and rise in cost starting in 2027.
About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
So how much would be saved if Tenn refused non citizens any Financial Aid and support? Also cut the Funding for Colleges and Universities. The Citizens pay enough for things already. Bet if they did these two things, they would have enough to pay for the roads and other Infrastructure.
They should have spent $500 million on roads instead of giving it to build Nashville a football stadium.
And stop giving money to bring liberal companies to Nashville – it is already liberal – if you keep bringing Amazon and similar tech companies we will end up like Arizona with the Libs taking over the State government. 90% of tech workers are Libs.
I totally agree. Not everybody goes to these w*ke games anyways. Everybody has to drive on roads at some point. We don’t need private companies running toll roads for a profit that taxpayers already pay for! Our government taxpayer paid officials are always touting how WE have over paid Taxes “Tennessee Up $1.2B More Than Budgeted In Taxes, Fees At Fiscal Year Midpoint”. That is from an early article from The Tennessee Conservative, February 22, 2023. I can guarantee that officials are getting kickbacks from the private companies. Spend the money where it is needed not on stupid sports stadiums across the state.
In God we trust not government or man.
Have a blessed day.
1. If these “choice lanes” are built with private funds, which they’re not, would THP have jurisdiction on them? How? If so, it must mean they are public roads, correct?
2. In addition to crucial legislator activities that will undoubtedly lead to legislators being given passage at taxpayers’ expense, what about their staffs? Federal politicians? Their staff? Mayors of Tennessee cities and towns? Their staff? How far will that go?
3. How will drivers who haven’t paid be kept from entering these lanes? How will anyone know they did? Again- see point one- is THP or the local law enforcement going to pull them over and tell them they can’t drive on “privately” funded roads? Hello lawsuits.
4. What exactly do the “private” companies get out of this?
5. Who will select the contractors for the jobs, the private folks or the usual state folks? Who is auditing that process?
6. Are we really supposed to believe that choice lanes solve a problem with underfunding of roads? Who is measuring this to make sure the “fix” is working?
7. Will the selection of the private individuals be out in the light of day, or via some type of “secret ballot” a la the McNally vote. As an aside, no vote by people elected by the populace should be via secret ballot.
Toll roads end up costing drivers and the state more and more and the tolls _never_ go away. The Greenway Toll Road in Loudoun County, VA is the perfect example. Built in 1995, The Greenway is under massive debt being debated in the Virginia Legislature and it could mean a state bailout of a company that over 30 years has more than tripled its debt rather than pay it down. Google it.