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Tennessee political leaders put off gas tax talk despite needs
Gov. Bill Haslam has said 2015 is not the year to tackle transportation funding. But as time passes, more transportation projects get added to the state's to-do list, and the entire system continues to age.
That makes for a long list with a high price tag.
Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports that the money states get from the highway fund has declined 3.5 percent during the five-year period ending in 2013. And during that span, the amount of inflation-adjusted federal highway money dropped in all states but Alaska and New York.
That means the situation in Tennessee is playing out across the country.
According to the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, there are 145 needed transportation projects in Hamilton County alone. And they are expected to cost about $1 billion in the five-year period ending in 2017.
Meanwhile, uncertainty about the amount of highway money Tennessee will get from the federal government has led to projects being delayed or halted.
Congress only funded the federal Highway Trust Fund through Dec. 11, 2014. And in October, Tennessee Transportation Commissioner John Schroer announced that 32 projects across the state totaling $393 million would be delayed a year because of a lack of money.
The funding question had already delayed construction of a $21.7 million interchange on State Route 311 in Bradley County and an $11.9 million effort to widen East Brainerd Road in Hamilton County between Graysville and Bel Air roads. Those projects were supposed to be completed in 2014. They are on the list this year.
Of the 145 projects needed in Hamilton County, 18 are in the planning or design stages and 12 are under construction. Altogether, they are costing $638 million.
The other 115 projects are concepts, according to the TACIR report. And they carry an estimated $440 million price tag.
It's unclear from TACIR needs reports how many of the projects are for new construction to meet growth or maintenance and repair.
But according to the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency Transportation Improvement Plan, most of the county's transportation money is going toward expansions and new projects.
Locally, tens of millions of dollars are marked for various Riverwalk expansions.
Also on the TIP list is the controversial $7.4 million extension of Central Avenue from Third Street to Riverside Drive. The project is planned for 2017, but residents of Lincoln Park have filed complaints to block construction, saying the road extension will cut through the historic park.
Another pricey project is the realignment and expansion of Enterprise Parkway from Hickory Valley Road to just south of Highway 58. That multiphase project has a $16 million price tag and is expected to be completed this year.
Jennifer Flynn, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Transportation, says TDOT doesn't keep a comprehensive list of the oldest or most in-need highways or bridges. But the state does note overall roadway needs when it looks at improving major corridors, such as interstates 75 and 24.
Those needs are balanced and weighed. The most important get funding through TDOT's three-year plan and the others remain on the list.
Federally, transportation funding is in a traffic jam of its own.
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., has put forward a plan to increase the federal gas tax to replenish the Federal Highway Trust Fund. The tax hasn't changed since 1993. But support for any tax increase in the majority-Republican Congress is virtually nonexistent.
Tennessee's other senator, Republican Lamar Alexander, has said he would not support a funding increase until he sees a long-term federal transportation plan from the White House and congressional transportation committees.
For U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., a five-year transportation bill would be ideal. Before joining the House Appropriations Committee, Fleischmann sat on the body's transportation committee. He said Friday there are a few good ideas in Congress about how to bolster the highway fund.
Republican U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland has a bill that would allow businesses operating overseas to repatriate their money without penalty if they buy transportation bonds at 1 percent interest.
Fleischmann also is interested in a plan to add a fee to new oil and gas wells drilled in the U.S.
"That was part of the initial five-year bill, to look at revenue from gas wells and oil wells," Fleischmann said. "So as you create the wells for new energy sources, you are building revenue for transportation."
Contact staff writer Louie Brogdon at lbrogdon@timesfreepress.com, @glbrogdoniv on Twitter or at 423-757-6481.