Hamilton County: Vincent argues against toll bridge

A proposed bridge connecting Soddy-Daisy and Harrison need not be a toll bridge, said former state Rep. Jim Vincent, R-Soddy-Daisy, a candidate for the District 31 state House seat.

Mr. Vincent said Thursday the state should be able to pay for the bridge using the gas tax, the traditional funding source for road projects.

“To start charging ourselves a fee on top of the gas tax is a mistake,” he said. “We can get the bridge.”

Mr. Vincent said he would support the toll “if it’s the only way we can get it.”

But state Rep. Jim Cobb, R-Spring City, Mr. Vincent’s opponent in the GOP primary, said the money simply is not available.

“Gas tax is a declining tax,” he said.

Both candidates spoke Thursday to the Soddy-Daisy/North Hamilton County Council of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation is considering a road project that would include the bridge, along with projects near Memphis and Nashville and in Benton and Houston counties, as possible pilot projects under the Tennessee Tollway Act.

Mr. Vincent began to ask, in regard to a toll, “Why would we want to tax ourselves?”

Rep. Cobb interjected, “It’s not a tax.”

“I would appreciate you not doing me that way, sir,” Mr. Vincent responded. “I wouldn’t do you that way.”

Rep. Cobb said charging the toll would bring the bridge to Hamilton County within five to 10 years. Otherwise, it could take up to 50 years, he said.

Jennifer Flynn, a spokeswoman for the state transportation department, said the Hamilton County project, estimated at about $350 million, is “not really on the department’s radar” unless there is a toll.

Mr. Vincent said he thought the toll would have to be a minimum of $5, which would amount to around $2,400 per year for daily commuters.

At the last meeting of officials to discuss the bridge project, the price discussed was closer to $2 or $3, Rep. Cobb said. The incumbent representative also argued that commuters who don’t want to pay the toll don’t have to.

“If you don’t want to pay it, travel the routes that are available now,” he said.

Rep. Cobb said the two projects outside of Hamilton County had been “sidetracked.”

Ms. Flynn said that’s not the case.

“All bridge projects that have been considered for tolling are still under consideration,” he said.