On Monday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee discussed the state’s budget during his State-to-State Address at the capitol. The state is planning on allocating an additional $3.3 billion to help with congestion throughout the state.
According to the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), the growing population is outpacing the roadways, leading to congestion.
A portion of the funding will also go to the 2017 Improve Act in order to fight congestion in urban and rural areas.
$26 billion is planned to cover a backlog of projects in order to modernize the roads, and reduce congestion, according to TDOT.
“We know that there are potential projects throughout Tennessee that will lend themselves to these choices lanes. But what we will do as soon as we get the authority to do that is to delve into that and come back to the legislator during next year’s session with the actual project that we will propose doing this and then we will get on with it so that we can get it done as soon as possible,” said Butch Eley, Commissioner of Transportation for Tennessee.
Governor Lee wants TDOT to continue researching other traffic models and plans from other cities in order to learn what works.
According to Eley, Governor Lee wants to avoid raising taxes or creating a new tax to complete this project. Instead they will work with the private sector to help design, build, and finance new roads.
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Source: WSMV.com
