Representative Ron Gant Secures $148.7M to Widen Interstate 40 to Six Lanes in Fayette County

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – State Representative Ron Gant, R-Piperton, announced a $148.7 million project to widen 1-40 in Fayette County as part of a project of the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT).

The project will widen the stretch of I-40 between exit 35 and exit 42 in Fayette County. It was prioritized by TDOT because of heavy traffic volume, Blue Oval City, and job and freight growth throughout this stretch of highway.

“This is fantastic news for Fayette County,” Gant said. “The widening of 1-40 will improve traffic flow, fight congestion, and support our region’s growing economy. People and businesses are moving to Tennessee for our good fiscal governance and conservative values, and this project will allow our infrastructure to support that growth. I thank TDOT for prioritizing improvements to this stretch of I-40.”

The funding for the project comes from the Transportation Modernization Act (TMA), historic $3.3 billion legislation passed by members of the General Assembly in April, in addition to traditional state and federal funds.

The Fayette County I-40 project was one of five rural interstate widening projects across the state. The others will improve part of 1-75 in Loudon County, part of I-24 in Montgomery County, and parts of 1-40 in both Putnam and Wilson counties.

The infrastructure improvements are part of TDOT’s $15 billion 10-year fiscally constrained plan, released on Monday.

It is funded in part by the $3.3 billion TMA as well as TDOT’s annual $1.2 billion work program budget.

The fiscally constrained plan includes 93 site-specific projects, 46 of which are partially or fully funded by the TMA.

TDOT has identified the funding necessary to start and finish each project, vowing, “what gets started, gets finished.”

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