Haslam Looking At ways To Fund Transportation Projects

Aug 18, 2015 at 09:52 am by bryan


Gov. Bill Haslam says he has seen wide agreement on a statewide tour about transportation that Tennessee needs more money for road and transit projects.

But the Republican governor says there's little consensus on what to do about it.

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Haslam said in a recent forum in Nashville that a frequent comment he receives from elected officials who want to kick start projects in their home areas is: "I'm not really excited about a gas tax, what else can we do?"

The problem, Haslam says, is that there's "no magic bullet" to fund a $6 billion backlog of transportation projects around the state.

Tennessee charges a 21.4-cent tax on each gallon of gasoline. The tax, which raises $657 million per year, was last increased in 1989.

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