As lawmakers worked through a budget shortfall, debated whether to accept stimulus funds and passed more than a dozen gun bills, the toll bridge project between Soddy-Daisy and Harrison cracked and partially crumbled.

"I don't think there's been a lot of conversation about it this session," said state Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, in whose district the bridge would go. "A lot of discussion of that got lost."

State Rep. Vince Dean, R-East Ridge, vice chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said lawmakers still are waiting on recommendations from the Tennessee Department of Transportation on which projects to proceed.

"(The Hamilton County bridge) would certainly be convenient, but they're having to look at demand for it," he said.

Jennifer Flynn, spokeswoman for TDOT, said state and local planners are updating land use and traffic data given the new development prompted by the Volkswagen plans.

"This new data will also be a part of the work undertaken by the Chattanooga (Transportation Planning Organization) to complete its long-range transportation plan," she said.

State Rep. Jim Cobb, R-Spring City, said the TPO is compiling traffic data so officials can do a cost-benefit analysis. The next step would be an environmental impact study, he said.

Rep. Dean said the Hamilton County project is in the top two or three projects being considered statewide.

The Transportation Committee spent a lot of time this session focusing on bridges that are already built and considering a plan to issue bonds to pay for repair or replacement. A compromise worked out at the end of the session allows the state to issue $87 million per year over four years for bridge work.

One bridge-related bill that did pass, though, was from Rep. Cobb and changes a provision of the Tennessee Tollway Act of 2007. The original act allowed TDOT to look at only one bridge and one road project, but Rep. Cobb's bill, which Gov. Phil Bredesen signed in April, allows for two bridges or two road projects.

In January, members of the Hamilton County legislative delegation said the Soddy-Harrison bridge project may have to wait a few years, in light of a TDOT report stating that toll funds may not fully fund the project.

But a preliminary feasibility report released in February by engineering firm WilburSmith Associates said that two of the proposed routes "have the potential to be fully funded by toll revenues."

"As a result of this conclusion, WSA recommends that TDOT move forward with the next level of analysis," the report states.

Both routes would begin at the interchange between U.S. 27 and Sequoyah Road. One would end at Interstate 75 mile marker 13, while the other would end at the new exit to Enterprise South industrial park.

The X factor is development around the new Volkswagen plant, which likely will bring more demand, the report states.