NASHVILLE — Heavily traveled Interstate 24 at Moccasin Bend in Chattanooga is one of four traffic sites under consideration by the state for privately built and operated toll lanes, Tennessee Department of Transportation officials said Monday.
But officials said the first pick for what Republican Gov. Bill Lee calls "choice lanes" — because drivers can choose not to pay the toll and drive in them — will be another crowded stretch of I-24 between Nashville and Murfreesboro.
Other toll-lane projects proposed are I-65 from Nashville to Spring Hill and I-40 at the I-40/I-75 junction in Knoxville.
Yet another plan calls for replacing the I-55 Mississippi River bridge linking Tennessee and Arkansas.
It's all part of a new $15 billion 10-year state plan. It funds not only the Tennessee Department of Transportation's $1.2 billion annual work program for 10 years, but also includes an additional $3 billion in state general fund appropriations provided in Lee's Transportation Modernization Act. The legislation was passed by lawmakers earlier this year along with another $300 million for local transportation projects.
"As families and businesses continue moving to Tennessee in record numbers, our transportation assets must be ready to serve our citizens and visitors," Lee said in a news release. "I am proud of TDOT for their leadership in creating this 10-year project plan to guide investments in rural and urban communities that will modernize our transportation systems."
The plan focuses efforts on what can be effectively delivered by TDOT within available revenues, further opening communications with local communities on what is feasible, said Butch Eley, deputy governor and state Transportation Department commissioner, in the same release.
Eley said Tennessee's need for infrastructure projects is at least $30 billion. He called the new long-term plan a "solid step" toward providing a safer and more reliable transportation network well into the future.
House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, of Nashville, charged the state's plan "lacks the courage and vision" necessary to address big "quality of life" issues facing Tennessee families.
"Instead of presenting a long-term plan with forward-thinking solutions to one of the biggest challenges facing workers, Gov. Lee has presented a plan with several fundamental flaws," Clemmons said in a statement, adding he believes the program will be outdated long before it can be fully implemented.
Lee, who departs office in 2027, is "conveniently" writing a check he "cannot cash" for a "poorly crafted" plan that he won't even be around to long enough to execute, Clemmons said. He said Lee's toll lane plans are designed to "enrich private corporations on the backs of workers" rather than address traffic congestion.
"We cannot pave our way out of the traffic problems that workers experience every day on our state's busiest interstates and highways," Clemmons said. "Yet, this governor has failed to provide any details about the 'multimodal solutions' that his plan merely references. Notably, Lee's plan fails to even mention interstate or regional commuter rail."
The toll lane plan had a number of Republican critics when it came through the legislature this year. Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, noted some of the toll road building and operation companies are foreign and raised the spectre of China controlling Tennessee roads.
"What happens when this foreign company is almost going broke?" Niceley asked. "Can we keep them from selling to China?"
Eley and others argued that U.S.-based firms are beginning to show interest after years of foreign investments.
Niceley also said while language in the proposed bill would allow Tennessee to maintain control over its current highway lanes, the state would not be free to build additional ones.
Moccasin Bend
TDOT Deputy Commissioner and Chief Engineer Will Reid said proposed I-24 plans for Moccasin Bend toll lanes won't result in further intrusion into the Tennessee River.
"Actually, from an engineering standpoint, I welcome the challenge to be able to come up with a solution for that issue," Reid said as he, Eley and others responded to questions at a news conference. "We would likely go up with structure — you got a railroad on one side, the river on the other, so you would likely have elevated structure to have managed lanes, which is very typical, that you see across the country."
It becomes a function of what the project costs versus the revenue that can be generated off of it, Reid said.
Reid said officials will be doing their homework on what he called "extremely complex projects" to find feasible solutions.
Tennessee Roadbuilders Association Executive Director Kent Starwalt, who attended the announcement, praised officials for their work.
"I thought they did a phenomenal job in identifying projects they could do to really meet a couple of big goals, which is identifying urban congestion spots where they could potentially widen choice lanes and also doing the rural six-lane interstates," he told the Chattanooga Times Free Press following the news conference.
Lee and state officials are following the lead of other states, many of which have had toll roads for decades. The governor and his administration hope motorists will use the privately built and maintained lanes and pay tolls to avoid traffic snarls.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-285-9480.
FILE - Signs mark an HOV lane on Interstate 65 in Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 6, 2022. Tennessee transportation officials on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023 recommended that new, optional toll lanes be added to some highways around Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville. (Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean via AP, file)