Chattanooga is a top-three candidate for the first Choice Lanes in the state, Tennessee Deputy Governor and Commissioner of Transportation Butch Eley told members of the Rotary Club of Chattanooga on Thursday.
Traffic congestion studies have put Nashville and Knoxville on the short list, too, leaving behind Memphis, which first needs a new bridge over the Mississippi River, Mr. Eley said.
“We’re going to continue to lean in,” he said of Choice Lanes, and that the state will prioritize Choice Lane projects that he said will quickly pay for themselves.
Mr. Eley did not specify where in Chattanooga. Officials earlier discussed the possibility of the congested I-24 section at Moccasin Bend.
An informational video played during the meeting stated that user fees would be based on demand. Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas have Choice Lanes that work, the video stated.
Mr. Eley said he and Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly are working together to bring passenger rail to Chattanooga as part of a line connecting Bristol, Nashville, Memphis, Chicago and Atlanta.
“We are committed,” he said. “It’s a long haul... We’ve come a long way in the last year.”
Mr. Eley looked back to 1854 when a new railroad was built from Nashville to the Tennessee River.
“They ended up choosing Chattanooga,” he said. “History repeats itself in so many ways.”
“We’re excited to be part of that,” he said.
Governor Bill Lee’s $3 billion Transportation Modernization Act of 2023 consists of public/private partnerships to build Choice Lanes. Private firms design, build, operate and maintain new traffic lanes, and charge a user fee. This frees the state’s highway fund, made up of gas taxes, to pay for needed projects in other parts of the state, Mr. Eley said.
“We can invest in other projects that are needed,” he told club members.
He said the highway fund revenues “are totally flat, year over year. Y’all can probably tell that’s getting harder and harder as we go.”
The act will raise electric vehicle taxes to the level of gas vehicle taxes.
Finally, the act pledges to find better and faster ways to finish road projects. Projects take an average of 15 years to complete, if they’re completed at all, he said. Many proposals have not included right-of-way costs or construction costs. When they run out of money, the project stops.
Mr. Eley said TDOT has identified projects to fund to completion over the next 10 years, and going forward “What gets started gets done.”
Mr. Eley reminisced about former Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey, who was Deputy Governor under Governor Bill Haslam after serving as county mayor for 16 years.
“He always looked after me to make sure that I could find my way up at the capital,” said Mr. Eley. He and Mr. Ramsey’s wife, Jan, are both from Cheatham County, he said.