Heat rises from the freshly-paved northbound lane of Barton Avenue as traffic passes in this file photo.Thanks to a last-minute save, Chattanooga and surrounding communities can go on paving streets, building sidewalks and widening roads — at least for the next six months.
After that, it’s anybody’s guess.
Congress last week approved a six-month extension, worth about $27.7 billion at current funding levels, to the Surface Transportation Bill that pays for everything from interstates to bike paths. That’s less than the six-year, $556 billion bill that President Barack Obama asked for, but it means that road construction, bridge repairs and project planning won’t grind to a halt Oct. 1.
Obama had said failing to renew the bill could cost nearly 14,000 Tennessee highway construction workers their jobs and shut down 3,359 highway projects and 115 transit projects in the state.
The U.S. House approved the extension on a voice vote Tuesday. Local representatives’ votes were unavailable since the tally wasn’t recorded. The Senate passed the bill on Thursday 92-6, with all tri-state senators voting yes.