Tennessee General Assembly votes to increase county roads, bridges funding

roadworksignThere’s a lot of road work ahead for county roads and bridges in Tennessee.

The Tennessee General Assembly voted to triple the amount of funding allotted for county roads and bridges with an additional $42 million to divide between the counties, whjl.com reports. It also voted to allow counties to pay only 2 percent of the cost for road and bridge projects, rather than the usual 20 percent, with the state picking up the remaining 98 percent.

“That will be a real saving for us,” Sullivan County Highway Commissioner Jim Belgeri told the news agency, noting that three bridges need replacement in Sullivan County and about a dozen bridges need to be repaired. “When you replace a bridge you’re looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars.” He added that it could help some counties speed up bridges repairs and replacement.

The new laws will also give more money for asphalt. “We are going to pave a lot more state aid roads this year,” Belgeri told the news agency, adding that the counties will be able to pave four times the number of miles they normally do.

Local representative Timothy Hill (R-Blountville) sponsored the bill that decreased the amount the counties pay from 20 to 2 percent, and he advocated to triple the amount of money given to counties.

“Added in and allocated $43 million more, so a total of $63 million to fix county-owned infrastructure, and that’s very important because it’s much needed all across the state, and especially in Northeast Tennessee,”  Hill told the news agency.