Paid express lanes grow more popular in once-reluctant South
Southern states are more frequently turning to pay-to-use express lanes as a way to address highway congestion without raising taxes
Trucker Tim Chelette has been making the same twice-daily drive for 16 years hauling empty whiskey barrels from Louisville, Kentucky, to the Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee, yet his workday keeps getting longer due to time lost in Nashville traffic.
Although trucks wouldn't be eligible for the pay-to-use express lanes Republican Gov. Bill Lee is advocating for some of Tennessee's most-congested highways, Chelette supports them because he thinks enough drivers in the fast-growing state capital would take advantage to benefit everyone.
“They're going to have to do something,” said Chelette, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, who gets paid by distance, not time — even when his 245-mile (394-kilometer) return trip to the Lynchburg distillery spikes by an hour or more during afternoon rush. “When I get stuck in traffic, I lose money."
Unlike traditional toll plazas where every vehicle that passes through pays a standard fee, price-managed lanes allow some drivers to pay up to circumvent congestion — and the fee usually increases as the traffic does.
