Tennessee Finds More Billions By Adding More Calendar

Tennessee’s toll-road deal has acquired a much larger number without acquiring a larger present-dollar value. DriveTN’s revised payment structure promises about $7.7 billion during construction and more than $140 billion over the operating period, rather than the original $24.8 billion construction-period commitment. The Department of Transportation says that, converted into today’s dollars, the overall value remains the same.

Please keep that last sentence attached to the first one. It is the adult in the room, and the other numbers are trying to leave without it.

Nearly $148 billion sounds spectacular. You can put it on a lectern. You can stand beside it looking as though you personally discovered a new layer of Tennessee underneath Tennessee and it was made of money.

Then the clarification arrives: same present value, different timing.

Oh. We have not found a bigger treasure chest. We have booked a longer exhibition.

There can be good reasons to prefer a stream of payments over an upfront sum. Governor Bill Lee says the arrangement creates long-term funding for the state and helps avoid a gas-tax increase. He acknowledges advantages to taking money in a lump sum. That is an actual policy choice: when the state receives money, what it can do with it, and which risks it carries.

It is not the same discussion as pointing at a much bigger number and waiting for the room to make the appropriate noise.

I am quite capable of appreciating a long-term revenue stream without being hypnotized by the total. I would simply like the state to tell me whether it is selling me a financial structure or trying to win at displaying digits.

The project itself is substantial: $9.2 billion in construction for toll lanes along the I-24 corridor between Nashville and Murfreesboro and on parts of I-440 and I-40 East. Motorists using the toll lanes would supply revenue over the decades. The money does not emerge from a ceremonial ribbon when the governor cuts it.

And a rival consortium has sued over the procurement, alleging that DriveTN was allowed to alter its terms after seeing competitors’ proposals. That dispute remains unresolved. TDOT says pending litigation limits what it can discuss. No court finding of bid-rigging is required to ask a simpler question: could the payment explanation please arrive in the same vehicle as the payment announcement?

The department’s present-value clarification came more than a day after the Tennessee Lookout asked about the enormous figure. That is a long time to leave a number that large unattended in political conversation. It could have endorsed a candidate and opened three regional offices before anybody explained what year its dollars lived in.

This is why I hate the ceremonial unveiling of financial totals. The first announcement gets a marching band. The qualification gets a cardigan and a link at the bottom.

Then anyone who asks about the difference is accused, at least in the great imaginary press conference happening inside my skull, of being against investment. No. I am against applauding the same dollar again because you have arranged for it to arrive wearing a futuristic hat.

Democratic Senator Heidi Campbell wants the full agreement released and scrutinized. Lee argues the funding stream adds value for the state. Those positions can be debated against the actual terms. The nominal total cannot settle the debate simply by being too large to fit comfortably in a sentence.

I have reached the stage of this announcement where I want to try the logic at the toll booth.

I could offer a handsome total paid over an extremely long period. Explain that the delay has a sophisticated financial structure. Point out that regular receipts may help the operator avoid other unpleasant revenue decisions.

Would the barrier rise? Or would somebody suddenly develop a passionate interest in the difference between money now and money later?

Exactly. Put that person in charge of writing the fucking announcement.