Government workers repair a road in preparation for a project in this file photo.Shrinking federal funds could cut into efforts to make state highways larger and safer, Tennessee’s top transportation engineer said Friday in Chattanooga.
The state spends its own highway money mostly on maintenance and depends on Uncle Sam to deliver dollars for new roads, new lanes and better highway access, said Paul Degges, chief engineer for the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
When there’s a federal funding crunch, “for the most part, big new initiatives are the most difficult projects to move forward,” Degges told members of the Southeast Tennessee Political Action Committee over lunch Friday.
And there are plenty of big initiatives just ahead in Chattanooga, Degges told the SETPAC audience at the DoubleTree Hotel.
TDOT saved up for years for the upcoming widening and reconstruction of U.S. Highway 27 from the Olgiati Bridge to Signal Mountain Road, so that’s already paid for, he said.