Pody says “toll lanes” won’t catch up state on highway construction, says state is decades behind on infrastructure needs.
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By Sam Stockard [The Tennessee Lookout-CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
The first stretch of Tennessee’s toll lanes isn’t expected to be completed until 2031-32, leading one senator to call for a billion-dollar annual infusion into the state’s building fund to expedite highway projects.
Republican Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon says he plans to revive a measure to bolster Department of Transportation work by $1 billion annually after a similar bill failed last session. Pody’s plan would dedicate sales taxes revenue on automobiles and tires to the Department of Transportation for road work and earmark a share of the sales tax revenue for administrative costs.
“I really believe we need to have another dedicated source to be giving solid money to our department. We need to get it up to another billion dollars. We should double our state budget to TDOT,” says Pody, a Senate Transportation Committee member whose district includes a portion of eastern Davidson County.
Otherwise, the state will never catch up on infrastructure needs, Pody says, contending the state is “decades behind” on road projects. He calls the governor’s $3.3 billion plan the Legislature approved in 2023 “not sufficient” to do the job.
The state’s 10-year, $15 billion transportation plan calls for putting money toward four “toll lane” projects, including I-65 from Nashville through Franklin to Spring Hill; I-24 along Moccasin Bend in Chattanooga; and I-40 from the I-40/I-75 junction to state route 158 west of downtown Knoxville, all of which would be separate from general lanes and give motorists an alternative to pay a fee.
I-55 over the Mississippi River from Memphis to Arkansas is to be replaced as well, although it won’t involve a toll. All told, the state is targeting 93 projects over the next decade with the one-time infusion of $3.3 billion and $1.2 billion annually.
The state is in the early stages of environmental and design work for a 26-mile stretch of “toll lanes” projected to run from Fesslers Lane in Nashville nearly to I-840 in Murfreesboro. Transportation officials hope a vendor can start on the estimated $5 billion construction project in 2027 as part of the state’s first public-private partnership on roads and wrap it up in about five years.
As part of the toll or “choice lane” program, the vendor would be able to recoup costs by charging motorists a fee to use the highway, which is expected to consist of two elevated lanes built on each side of I-24. Costs for users will be determined by the amount of traffic on the roads.
The Department of Transportation isn’t ready to choose a vendor, though it issued a notice Aug. 30 that it plans to advertise for bids.
Republican Sen. Becky Massey of Knoxville, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, says the toll lanes should be part of an overall transportation plan but stops short of fully supporting Pody’s proposal, saying it’s difficult to attach a “dollar amount.”
“The more creative we can get in our solutions the better,” Massey says.
Knoxville has five of the seven highest traffic counts in the state but its peak periods don’t last as long as the congestion on I-24 coming in and out of Nashville.
Massey contends the public-private partnerships will help the state “leverage” more money than it has available to take on road expansion projects. She also points out the average project time for major road work has been 15 years, compared to the estimated eight to 10 years under the new set-up with a private partner.
In contrast, Democratic Rep. John Ray Clemmons of Nashville considers the “toll lanes” an “absurd” idea that will force I-24 motorists to pay up to $25 to reach a child’s ballgame on time.
“I’d much prefer we address the root causes of the problem and invest in proven, workable solutions, rather than give Bill Lee’s business pals a 40-50-year lease to profit off of our families’ inconvenience that they’re purposely compounding,” Clemmons says.
Solutions include directing large trucks to use I-840 and other bypasses around Nashville and working with Amtrak to build interstate and regional commuter rail, Clemmons says.
Massey, though, while saying she supports the concept of rail notes she would rather spend any extra money on roads projects.
Pody also stops short of saying the state should dedicate funds toward rail travel but says the Transportation Department should look at every alternative for solving congestion problems.
The state does not borrow money to build roads, but it needs to start putting extra money toward road construction, Massey says. The state’s road work is funded primarily with fuel taxes, which were raised in former Gov. Bill Haslam’s final term in office.
