TDOT Commissioner Will Reid said the Interstate 65 interchange at June Lake Boulevard shifted from bad to worse after its 2024 construction, grading it a "worse F" at an Oct. 30 forum in Franklin.

Reid and Tennessee Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville, spoke at the final Policy Talks of the year at Columbia State Community College's Williamson Campus. The monthly series is organized by Williamson Inc., as first reported by the Williamson Herald.

"The level of scale was an 'F,'" Reid said of the interchange's grade before construction. "The project goes in and it's a worse 'F.' It helped solve some local problems, but it shifted the bottleneck to I-65."

Spring Hill's Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved a separate emergency expenditure of $169,498.70 for extra asphalt at the Buckner Lane/June Lake Boulevard intersection in January, according to city records. That brought the total cost for the intersection's final asphalt layer to $397,635.20.

Corridor-wide fix

Reid said he does not want to repeat the June Lake approach at other interchanges. Some drivers have asked for a similar project at Moore's Lane in Franklin, but Reid pushed back.

"We need a holistic solution from downtown Nashville to Bear Creek," he said, referring to Columbia.

No formal timeline, funding allocation or project commitment for that corridor-wide plan appears in public records. Reid's statement was a vision, not an announced project.

Reid also said funding is being pursued for the widening of Nolensville Road through the center of town, though he did not specify which town.

Highway 31 widening moves forward

The corridor discussion comes as Thompson's Station has already secured an accelerated timeline for the Highway 31/Columbia Pike widening. The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) accepted the town's request through the Statewide Partnership Program to move preliminary engineering from 2029 to 2026, according to the town's public works page.

Thompson's Station committed $15 million in local funds to help accelerate the project. TDOT has concept plans to widen Highway 31 to four lanes starting in Franklin and extending south through Thompson's Station into Spring Hill.

Funding pressures

Massey said some areas of the state are expecting a 30% drop in gas tax revenue by 2030 because of rising construction costs and more fuel-efficient vehicles. Reid said the federal gas tax was last raised in 1993.

The state's Transportation Modernization Act of 2023 allocated $3.3 billion to infrastructure projects statewide and authorized Choice Lanes, which are additional traffic lanes with dynamic pricing. Massey called them "one piece of the puzzle."

Reid said Tennessee is one of five states with no road debt service and puts 92 cents of every dollar TDOT receives back into road projects. But the Columbia Daily Herald reported that Reid has said the state's no-debt system is not a sustainable way to fund future projects. Tennessee's next governor will inherit a $58 billion backlog of unfunded road projects, according to TDOT.

The next Policy Talks will be held after the start of the 2027 legislative session in January.