Proposed budget funds Cleveland St. extension

Gov. Bill Lee's proposed budget includes $40 million to extend Cleveland Street to the River North site of the incoming Oracle corporate campus.

• Metro Councilman Sean Parker tells Axios "it's great to see funding for multimodal infrastructure" in Lee's budget. Parker says he hopes the state and Metro can partner to make the Dickerson corridor "a safe and accessible destination for all roadway users."

Why it matters: The road extension funding is part of last year's $175 million economic incentive package that helped bring Oracle to Nashville. The tech giant is planning to invest $1.2 billion and bring 8,500 jobs with an average annual salary of $110,000 by 2031.

• The state also approved a $65 million jobs grant for Oracle last year.

Details: The Cleveland Street project will extend the East Nashville road from Dickerson Pike to Cowan Street and will include an I-24 underpass.

• "The state's investment affirms how vital the overall project's economic impact is for Nashville and Tennessee as a whole," Mayor John Cooper tells Axios.
• The city also committed funds to help pay for the Cleveland Street extension when it approved the Oracle incentives last year.