Tennessee I‐24 Choice Lanes Shortlist Published

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) has finally published an official shortlist of bidders for the I-24 Choice Lanes project. The proposed project will add two express lanes in each direction along a 26-mile stretch of I-24 southeast of Nashville. The project is the first of Governor Bill Lee’s Choice Lane initiative, which could eventually procure up to four different express lane projects across the state.

The published shortlist for I-24 includes:

24 Choice Lanes Partners, led by Acciona, ACS, and Meridiam. Construction firms Acciona and Dragados and engineering firm Parsons Transportation are also part of the project team.

Choice Mobility Partners, led by ASTM North America, FCC Concesiones, and InfraRed Capital Partners. Construction firms Halmar and FCC Construction and engineering firm Stantec are also part of the project team.

DriveTN, led by Cintra, Transurban, and Tikehau Star Infrastructure. Construction firm Ferrovial and engineering firm AECOM are also part of the project team.

Music City Access Partners, led by Plenary Americas, Sacyr, and Shikun & Binui. Construction firms Sacyr Construction and Shikun & Binui and engineering firm Michael Baker International are also part of the project team.

An Environmental Assessment (EA) for the project’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) permit is underway in parallel with the procurement. In May, TDOT announced that it would be revising portions of the environmental study in order to study the potential impacts of allowing heavy trucks to also use the Choice Lanes. The agency aims to complete the NEPA process with a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) before the final version of the RFP is published. TDOT is hosting an additional round of public meetings to collect feedback on the project September 30th through October 2nd.

TDOT’s original timeline for the procurement included a plan to publish the project shortlist in the first quarter of 2025, and to provide bid teams with a draft RFP in the second quarter. It isn’t clear that the delay in publishing the shortlist will impact the schedule for the broader procurement. As of late last year, TDOT was planning to issue a final version of the RFP in early 2026, with proposals due in the second quarter and commercial close scheduled for the third quarter.

TDOT is procuring the I-24 project using a two-phase structure. Proposal teams will provide a hard bid proposal for an initial segment along I-24 closest to Nashville, which is roughly 18 miles long. TDOT estimates that this segment will include hard construction costs of $2.7 billion to $2.9 billion. The winning bid team will also be required to submit a proposal to TDOT to develop an extension of the system to just north of I-840 at a later date, once certain triggers in the concession are met.

TDOT plans for the winning concessionaire to operate and maintain the system under a 50-year concession. The draft term sheet released with the RFQ includes the potential for the winning concessionaire to pay the state a concession fee at financial close or to receive milestone payments from TDOT during construction, depending on the terms of the winning proposal. The potential for excess revenue sharing is also included in the draft terms sheet. TDOT is also planning to request a Private Activity Bond (PAB) allocation and a TIFIA loan to support the project’s eventual financing.

Competition is likely to be heavy for the I-24 procurement, since it is the first in a large project pipeline for the state. The other priority corridors for Choice Lanes that TDOT has designated include the I-65 corridor near Nashville, the I-24 corridor west of Chattanooga, and the I-40 corridor east of Knoxville.

TDOT’s advisory team for the I-24 Southeast Choice Lanes procurement includes HNTB as its General Engineering Consultant, KPMG as Financial Advisor, Hunton Andrews Kurth as Legal Advisor, CDM Smith as Traffic and Revenue Advisor, and Ames & Gough as Insurance Advisor.