Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner John Schroer on Thursday released TDOT’s annual three-year transportation program, featuring approximately $2 billion in infrastructure investments for 79 individual project phases in 42 counties, as well as 15 statewide programs.
The projects include:
- Highway 60 in Bradley County four-lane north of I-75 at Westlake Drive to Highway 306 - distance of 2.5 miles. It is budgeted for construction in fiscal year 2019.
- Apison Pike from Ooltewah-Ringgold Road to near Layton Lane - 2.39 miles. It is budgeted for construction in fiscal year 2018.
- Right-of-way budgeted for fiscal year 2017 includes Bonny Oaks Drive from Bonnyshire Drive to I-75 - 1.7 miles and Apison Pike near Layton Lane to East Brainerd Road - 1.71 miles.
Other budgeted right-of-way for fiscal year 2018 is Bonny Oaks Drive from Adamson Circle to west of Bonnyshire Drive - 1.5 miles.
The three-year program "continues the state’s focus on providing a high quality state transportation network that is safe and reliable and supports Tennessee’s economic development efforts," officials said.
New federal transportation funding through the FAST Act federal legislation includes a roughly two-percent increase for FY 2017 over FY 2016’s funding. The FAST Act also provides some one-time flexibility that allows TDOT to tap into an additional $147 million in federal money.
These increases combined with the $100 million repayment to the highway fund in the Haslam administration’s proposed FY 16-17 budget will give the department a somewhat larger building program in the upcoming fiscal year - an estimated $965 million in FY 2017, compared to $660 million in FY 2016.
Despite the increase in revenue for FY 2017, the department still has a multi-billion-dollar backlog of unfunded highway and bridge projects that have been approved by the General Assembly, but lack available funding to move forward.
Governor Haslam said, “This program reflects our commitment to increasing safety and economic development opportunities, while also remaining debt free on our roads, and these one-time funding increases will allow TDOT to move forward with nearly a billion dollars in much needed road projects in communities across the state.”
The following projects would be funded with the $100 million transfer from the state’s general fund, and would all be under contract before the end of 2016 if approved by the Tennessee General Assembly:
· Fayette County, I-40 – Interchange modification at SR 196 (Hickory Withe Road)
· Haywood County, SR 19 – Construction of the Brownsville Bypass from west of Windrow Road to SR 76 south of Brownsville
· Knox County, SR 62 (Western Avenue) – Widening from Texas Avenue to Major Avenue
· Marshall County, SR 50 – Widening from US 431 (SR 106/Franklin Pike) to US 31A (SR 11/Verona Avenue)
· Montgomery County, US 79/SR 13 – Widening from Cracker Barrel Drive to International Boulevard, serving Hankook Tire
· Sullivan County, I-81 – Construction of truck climbing lane at mile marker 60
· Washington County, I-26 – Interchange modification at US 321 (SR 67), including the additional of an auxiliary lane and widening of I-26 East
In addition to the 2017 budgeted program, partial plans for 2018 and 2019 are included, along with funding for 15 transportation programs including Rockfall Mitigation, Spot Safety Improvement, and the statewide HELP Program. The program also provides funding for transit agencies in all 95 counties, as well as metropolitan and rural planning organizations.
T
o view a complete list of projects and programs funded through the 2017-2019 three-year multimodal program, visit http://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/tdot/attachments/FY_17-19_3_year_program_%283-29-2016%29.pdf. For more information about transportation funding, please visit https://www.tdot.tn.gov/ProjectNeeds/.