4/7/04-A bill that would authorize the building of a $1.5 billion, 300-mile toll road that would wind through the northeastern part of the state has all but ran out of gas.
SB2911, sponsored by Sen. Thelma Harper, D-Nashville, would direct the Tennessee Department of Transportation to build the toll road from Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Blountville to Nashville. The bill, however, was effectively killed when sent back to subcommittee by the Senate Transportation Committee last month.
Under the bill, the westward toll road would have run parallel to the Kentucky-Tennessee border and then turn toward Nashville. It would have gone through 11 counties.
A similar House bill – HB3092 – met the same fate in the House.