State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver has introduced legislation which would allow county road superintendents to spend state-aid funds for roads that are not part of the state-aid highway system.
“I have a bill to help bring in some funding for our locals concerning transportation. I met with my road supervisors. If we could take off some of the regulations and restrictions from the state aid money coming to the counties that would afford our elected road superintendents to make the decision then they could say “hey maybe we don’t need to put another layer of pavement on the state road. We could really use that money on a Class B or Class C road. It wouldn’t bring in a whole lot of money. It will just give our elected officials in our county the authority to say “we trust you to make the right decisions because you know the roads better than anybody because you are elected to maintain them,”Representative Weaver told WJLE.
Under Weaver’s bill, “once the local governments within a county geographical area have addressed the project priorities established by the (TDOT)commissioner, the county road superintendent or other similar county highway official may expend funds allocated for the state-aid highway system for other roadway purposes, including Class II and Class III roads and highways and other roads and highways that are not a part of the state-aid highway system. No approval of the (TDOT) commissioner is required for the expenditure, and no conditions shall be imposed by the commissioner in conjunction with the expenditure.”
“This legislation might ultimately be part of the comprehensive bill that we all work together on to not only fund the Tennessee Department of Transportation but here in our counties. That is where the rubber meets the road. We have got to get money back to our counties,” said Representative Weaver.
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