11/1/06-In search of alternative ways to fund transportation projects in Tennessee, a leading state lawmaker is drafting measures that would set up a special commission to oversee toll routes and public-private road partnerships.
House Transportation Committee Chair Phillip Pinion, D-Union City, said all alternative funding methods need to be on the table.
According to the state’s long-range transportation plan, the Tennessee Department of Transportation will face funding deficits by 2008 and an accumulated shortfall of $2 billion by 2015.
Agency officials have said adding toll roads, public-private partnerships, indexing the fuel tax or setting up a state infrastructure bank would help the state foot the bill for roadwork. The state infrastructure bank would involve pooling money and loaning it for transportation projects, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
Not all state legislators are onboard with the idea of a commission looking specifically at toll roads or public-private partnerships.
Rep. Eric Watson, R-Cleveland, said surplus money could be used for transportation projects.
“I don’t think we need more taxes or tolls and burden the people, especially when we have a surplus,” Watson told The Associated Press.
Any toll road or public-private partnership would need to be approved by state lawmakers and the governor.

4/24/06-Republican lawmakers and the governor in Tennessee are doing battle over whether to secure transportation funding for the state.
A legislative proposal in the Tennessee General Assembly would restore $65 million diverted from the road fund to help balance the state’s budget. Gov. Phil Bredesen says doing that would return the state to a “fiscal crisis.”
The Senate Transportation Committee voted 6-2 this month to advance the recommendation that also would prohibit $43.8 million from being taken from roads this fiscal year and giving it to the state’s general fund, Liz Alvey, research analyst for the transportation panel, told Land Line. The recommendation has been forwarded to the Senate Finance Committee.
Bredesen, a Democrat, was in attack mode after the effort’s passage.
“This election-year scramble by a select few to cater to political interests actually does threaten the principles of sound budgeting,” Bredesen told The City Paper in Nashville.
The governor rerouted $65 million from the road-building and maintenance fund to the general fund in 2003 to help cover a budget shortfall. He continued the practice in each of the next two budgets, transferring $207 million.
The Senate panel voted to return the full amount from 2003 while Bredesen wants only $22 million sent back during the next fiscal year. The governor’s plan would add another $22 million during each of the following two years.
Bredesen last year returned about $10 million to highways on a one-time basis. This year, the governor is calling for $11 million in recurring funds and $11 million in one-time money to be returned.
The governor’s office said if the committee’s plan is approved, the state would be forced to cut nearly $55 million from other programs, The AP reported.
Senate Transportation Chairman Mark Norris said something must be done to help transportation.
“Those monies are going to have to be found, but it was the committee’s thought that we should meet that need by recommending that full funding be restored,” Norris, R-Collierville, told The Associated Press.