Interstate 24 from Rutherford County to Nashville, which goes through my district, might be consistently the most congested stretch of highway in Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation. With the exponential growth of Middle Tennessee, drivers face increased traffic congestion daily. While stuck in traffic, many of us who commute to Nashville are asking ourselves the same question: What else can be done to help alleviate our traffic problems?

Our government and our leaders need to learn to do more with less, without increasing taxes.

We should continue to pursue options such as encouraging ride-sharing, alternative work schedules, an improved Bus Rapid Transit system and HOV lane enforcement as a few options to reduce traffic.

At the age of 19, I was working at the Whirlpool factory in La Vergne, and I would pay a coworker $5 each week to carpool.

As I drive from my home district to Nashville, I have watched the traffic congestion grow worse. I have continuously promoted ride-sharing, which has led to carpooling among my staff, many of whom are using the new mobile app Hytch Rewards, to carpool to the busy city of Nashville.

As lawmakers, we are here to serve the public and seek good policy in a cost-effective manner. My resolution, HJR 0726, urges government officials and transit authorities to make efforts to study highway efficiency and to work in public-private partnerships before increasing taxes as a means of addressing heavy traffic congestion, to do and explore everything in its capacity to manage traffic problems. It will also seek private sector assistance. There are private sector services out there, like Uber, Lyft, Hytch Rewards and even Amazon with its efficient delivery systems, stepping up in different ways to fill the lack of leadership and drought of direction in addressing congestion.

Companies like these are great examples of how, with certain issues, the private sector gets it right while the government often gets it wrong. These companies are looking for and successfully finding solutions. The state should support and learn from the private sector. Unfortunately, we still have much to improve on.

We can look to the private sector for innovative solutions. However, we can take a look at the tools we have now and see that they are not effective. Tennessee has a law in place making it illegal, during a few hours at the busiest times of the day, to drive alone in the carpool (or HOV) lane. TDOT estimates that up to 90 percent of drivers in the HOV lane during restricted hours are violating state law.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol issued an all-time low of 162 tickets in 2016 statewide for violating our HOV laws. There are 147 miles of highway with HOV lanes. 121 of those HOV miles are in the Middle Tennessee area, where traffic continues to worsen. Arizona has 190 miles of HOV lanes and issued 7,364 citations in 2015. Virginia, with 113 HOV miles, had more than 100 times the citations than Tennessee, with 18,194 in 2013, the most recently available number. In Dallas, alone, 5,369 HOV citations were issued in 2016. Furthermore, a fellow legislator has introduced a bill that increases HOV fines, currently $50, the lowest allowed by Federal law.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III, gave me his opinion that HOV violation should be treated as a moving violation. This would significantly strengthen enforcement. House Speaker, Rep. Beth Harwell of the 56th District, also understands the issues surrounding our existing HOV laws. In 2008, Harwell pioneered a change in HOV laws that made exceptions for drivers of low emission vehicles. She has led on this issue, and she understands the importance of taking action.

Davidson County may decide to spend billions of dollars on building a mass transit system in a few months, which would require a tax increase. Rutherford County will likely be next in line to build an expensive transit system, which again would require another tax increase.

Let’s explore, learn, be creative and do everything we can to leverage the private sector, thus getting things right in the public sector. We are all tired of being stuck in I-24 traffic. Together, let’s do something.