{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=F30AA370-6CB7-4394-AB0E-7093853FE8F3", "Alexander on Fixing Traffic Jams: Think Big, Think Long Term, Dont Expect Washington, D.C. to Pay for Too Much of It", "2016-11-09", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Lamar Alexander", "A000360", "www.alexander.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 9, 2016 \u2014 Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) told Middle Tennessee area local officials today that to fix Nashville\u2019s traffic jams they should \u201cthink big, think long term and not expect Washington, D.C. to pay for too much of it.\u201d\r\n\u201cNashville is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. The region needs a 21st century transportation system to match its growing economy,\u201d Alexander told local officials attending the Cumberland Region Tomorrow\u2019s Power of Ten Summit. \u201cFrom my experience, I recommend that to fix Nashville\u2019s traffic jams you think big, think long term and don\u2019t expect Washington, D.C. to pay for too much of it.\u201d\r\n\u201cLast year, Congress passed a long-term transportation program, which is something that the state legislature has not been able to do,\u201d the senator said. \u201cThe federal program provides an average of $12 billion per year over five years for mass transit and light rail.\u00a0But Nashville\u2019s share of that will not be nearly enough to pay much of Metro\u2019s $6 billion 25-year transit program, even if the new president proposes a big, new infrastructure plan.\u201d\r\n\u201cThat means paying for most of it with state and local dollars, which makes sense anyway.\u00a0Why send Tennessee dollars to Washington, D.C., take some out for overhead, add some regulations and send what\u2019s left back to Tennessee?\u00a0Conservatives who believe in the 10th Amendment ought to want to keep our money at home, let local officials use it to meet real needs and pay as you go with zero debt.\u201d\r\nHe added, \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what Tennessee did 30 years ago.\u00a0In 1986, I proposed and the legislature enacted a massive $5.7 billion Better Roads Program. It has done more than anything else the state could have done to attract the auto industry, increase family incomes and spread auto jobs throughout the state.\u201d\r\n\u201cIn 1986, Tennessee had poor highways and almost no auto jobs,\u201d the senator said.\u00a0\u201cAutomakers told us when they picked locations for new plants the first thing they looked for were intersections of excellent four lane highways. As a result of our 1986 plan, by 2001 truckers named Tennessee\u2019s roads the best in the country and said \u2018driving from Tennessee to Arkansas was like driving from heaven to hell.\u2019 Today, we are the leading state for new auto jobs with suppliers in 85 of our 95 counties\u2014because they can transport their auto parts to assembly plants traveling on excellent highways.\u201d\r\nSen. Alexander said the 1986 program\u2014enacted during\u00a0his final year as governor \u2013 ultimately cost $5.7 billion, more than $12 billion in today\u2019s dollars.\u00a0He said he had proposed finishing most of the projects within 13 years, but it took 30 years. The state built more than 100 miles of new interstate quality highways that were paid for with 100 percent state funds instead of the usual 90 percent federal, a 10 percent state split.\u00a0The three quarters\u00a0of a billion dollars\u00a0spent to build I-840 south of Nashville\u00a0was 100 percent state funds. The plan included 312 projects and established a 12-year cycle for resurfacing state roads.\r\n\u201cThe\u00a0Tennessee Department of Transportation estimates that over 30 years, state tax dollars paid for half of the $5.7 billion program,\u201d\u00a0Alexander said.\u00a0\u201cWe paid for it with a conservative pay as you go policy that saddled Tennesseans with zero road debt.\u00a0That meant raising the gas tax 4 cents per gallon and the diesel tax 3 cents a gallon. \u00a0Three times between 1981 and 1986, I asked the legislature to increase the gas tax. It went from 7 to 16 cents. In 1989, Governor McWherter asked the legislature to add another 4 cents. So it nearly tripled during the 1980\u2019s, and is still below the national average for states.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\n\u201cBecause we incurred zero debt, all the money we raised since\u00a0the\u00a01980\u2019s has gone\u00a0to maintain or build roads, instead of to pay interest and reduce debt. Compare that with Texas which has more than $20 billion in road debt and New Jersey which has more than $16 billion.\r\nHe continued, \u201cOnce we set as a goal building the nation\u2019s best road system with new state dollars and zero debt, paying for it was not a major political problem. Because it was a conservative, pay as you go plan that created jobs, every Republican legislator voted for it. No one who voted for it came close to losing\u00a0an election. One third of the total cost was paid by truckers, one third by tourists and one third by the rest of us who use the roads. Tennesseans did not object to paying the cost of one tank of gasoline a year\u2014about $15-- to improve our roads and attract jobs.\u201d\r\n\u201cI suspect Tennesseans would have the same attitude today.\u00a0I for one would prefer to pay a little more and have local officials decide what\u00a0to\u00a0do with it\u00a0rather than sit stuck in a traffic jam on Interstate 24 waiting for someone in Washington to send me some money from New Jersey or New York to help pay for my local transportation needs.\u201d\r\n\r\nAlexander spoke at the Cumberland Region Tomorrow\u2019s annual Power of Ten Regional Summit in Nashville. The event attracts local leaders from the 10 primary counties that are a part of the Middle Tennessee region with the goal of solving issues caused by the area\u2019s population surge.\r\n###\r\nFor access to this release and the senator\u2019s other statements, click here.\r\nTo stay up-to-date on the senator\u2019s latest actions, follow him on Twitter and YouTube.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=F30AA370-6CB7-4394-AB0E-7093853FE8F3"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2953360565006733, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}