Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam will be in Union City tomorrow as part of a series of appearances to hear about infrastructure challenges and opportunities on the local level.
The Republican governor is using the 15-city speaking tour to discuss the state’s transportation and infrastructure needs relating to the functionality and capacity of Tennessee’s state roads and highways, safety issues around roads and bridges and the impact infrastructure has on economic development efforts in urban and rural communities.
Among the challenges facing the state is transportation funding. The Tennessee Department of Transportation gets no money from the state’s general fund and must rely on state and federal gas taxes. But a recent report from the Tennessee Comptroller found that the state’s revenue is not sufficient to maintain current infrastructure. That uncertainty has put many state projects on hold.
“We know that we can’t depend on the federal government to be the funding partner that it once was," said Haslam, in a release. "We also know that as our infrastructure ages, maintenance becomes more important and more expensive. And we know that maintaining our roads is only part of the equation. Right now we have a multi-billion dollar backlog of highway projects across this state that address key access, safety and economic development issues and that’s only going to grow.”
Union City is the last stop on the 15 town tour.
Haslam will be at the Obion County Public Library at 1:30pm Tuesday afternoon along with Department of Transportation Commissioner John Schroer.