Investing in Rural Tennessee: Infrastructure, Agriculture, and Economic Development

Rural communities like ours have sometimes felt like an afterthought in conversations about economic development and infrastructure investment. This session, the 114th General Assembly made clear that rural Tennessee is not an afterthought. It is a priority.

The budget includes more than $890 million in new dollars for infrastructure, transportation, and economic development. That is a historic level of investment that will benefit communities across the state, including here in District 38.

Transportation funding totals $400 million for new and existing projects, bringing the Tennessee Department of Transportation's total General Fund allocation to $5 billion. Reliable roads are not just a convenience in rural Tennessee. They are essential to economic activity, emergency services, and everyday life. This investment helps ensure our region's transportation infrastructure keeps pace with our needs.

We invested $81.2 million in aviation infrastructure, $20 million in shortline railroads, and $25 million in nuclear industry initiative grants. These are investments in the kind of diversified, forward-looking economy that creates lasting opportunity.

We established a statewide framework for Tennessee's eight Tourism Development Zones, ensuring they remain open, clean, and operational environments for business. Tourism is a major industry for our region, and protecting the conditions that make it thrive is good economic policy.

The Jeff Burkhart Act gives counties the ability to establish Central Business Improvement Districts, a proven tool for organizing and funding local economic development efforts. For rural counties that have been looking for new tools to spur growth, this is a valuable addition to the toolkit.

We also created a new public-private partnership initiative with $20 million to increase access to affordable housing for working families. Housing affordability is a growing challenge across Tennessee, including in rural areas, and this program creates new pathways for development that serves families in the middle: those who earn too much for existing assistance but still cannot afford to buy or rent at market rates.

Rural Tennessee has everything it takes to thrive: natural beauty, hardworking people, deep community roots, and now a state government that is investing in its future. I am grateful to have been part of making that investment happen this session.