The Murfreesboro City Council on Thursday, August 22, 2024, approved the reallocation of TDOT’s Statewide Partnership Program proceeds for the potential widening of the Old Fort Parkway. The road widening project is outlined in the city’s 2040 Major Transportation Plan.

“Given the continued growth and east-west traffic volume on Old Fort Parkway, it makes sense to allocate city funds from MED proceeds to a project that TDOT has given higher priority,” said Mayor Shane McFarland. “Increasing local funding for this road improvement increases the city’s chance of motivating TDOT to proceed with a very important road expansion.”

TDOT’s 2024 Statewide Partnership Program helps local communities optimize funding for critical transportation investments. Communities must partner with the State of Tennessee to provide funding for future road construction projects.

Murfreesboro competes with dozens of other municipalities for funding for road construction projects. Allocating funds to projects that TDOT recognizes as high priority projects increases the city’s competitive advantage and increases its chance of receiving state funds compared to other projects statewide. Likewise, withholding funds for projects that are not considered important on TDOT’s priority list, such as the Lascassas Highway, would not be an effective allocation of city funds.

City engineers understand that improvements to Old Fort Parkway will increase capacity and improve traffic flow to reduce congestion.

The MED revenue distribution was originally approved by the City Council in 2023. That distribution had allocated $13.3 million for Lascassas Highway and $9.2 million for Memorial Blvd., but only $6.6 million for Old Fort Parkway. Under the reallocation approved by the Council on August 22, 2024, the Old Fort Parkway project would receive an additional $18.6 million in local funds, for a total amended request of $25.2 million.

The purpose of MED’s proceeds from the sale of the city’s utility is to finance a portion of the total project costs for the required transportation infrastructure.