Gov. Bill Haslam conducts budget hearings at the state Capitol in Nashville in this file photo.NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Transportation Department commissioner said Monday that the state won’t be able to start any new highway projects if it loses federal funding next year.
Gov. Bill Haslam wrapped up his annual budget hearings with the department at the state Capitol.
Commissioner John Schroer told Haslam that money from a measure President Barack Obama signed in 2012 to extend federal highway and transit funding will end on Oct. 1, 2014. If Congress doesn’t extend it, then that would mean a loss of over a billion dollars for Tennessee.
“We don’t know we’re going to lose it,” Schroer said. “They could come and pass a new authorization … and funding could be in place. But there’s a possibility that won’t happen, and so I thought the governor needed to be aware of that.”
Schroer said the state would likely be able to maintain current construction projects, but not take on new ones.