NewsChannel 5.com - Nashville, Tennessee - Tennessee Toll Road Bill Passes

Tennessee Toll Road Bill Passes

NASHVILLE, Tenn.- The Tennessee Department of Transportation received a green light from the Tennessee Legislature, which approved legislation allowing the agency to explore establishing toll roads.

The Senate passed the measure in a 19-11 vote, while it passed the House 72-21.

An area considered for a pay-as-you-go road would be between Hendersonville and Nashville.

Several patrons at Center Point Barbeque on Main Street in Hendersonville agreed with the idea.

"I'd like to have it," said Paul Raynor of Hendersonville. "As many trips as I make back and forth to Nashville. I would love to have an easier way to get there."

"I think it would help," said Hovie Walker. "A lot of traffic here in the mornings and the afternoons."

While Susan Edwards of Goodlettsville said "if people from this area need to get to the airport, I think it'd be feasible to use that."

Those are the kinds of comments state Rep. Debra Maggart heard when she conducted a recent survey.

"I specifically asked the question ‘Would up support a toll bridge over Old Hickory Lake?' and 53 percent of the people responding said yes," said Maggart, R-Hendersonville.

The proposed toll road would run from the western edge of Hendersonville on the north side, head south over Old Hickory Lake, through Rayon City and Madison. It would cross the river two more times before eventually meeting Briley Parkway on the south end.

While residents in Hendersonville may love the idea of the toll road, people who live in the Madison area and along Pennington Bend may not find the idea so appealing.

"Ultimately, we'll have to let the citizens decide and sometime this summer we'll start having community meetings and let them know what the impact will be and if they want it, we'll do it," said state Rep. Mike Turner, D-Old Hickory. "If they don't want it, we won't do it."

Even if approved, the toll road is at least five years away. Lawmakers said federal cutbacks on the road budget have prompted them to approve exploring toll roads.