The contractor chosen to build toll lanes on Interstate 24 between Nashville and Murfreesboro is promising Tennessee even more money than in its original proposal.
The project will construct 26 miles of paid traffic lanes. The Tennessee Department of Transportation refers to them as “choice lanes” because it says no current travel lanes will be reduced, and those will still be available at no cost.
When the group, DriveTN, was originally chosen for the project, it offered to pay the state nearly $25 billion in concession fees. That’s in addition to covering the cost of constructing the new lanes, which is estimated at $9.2 billion.
Now, Tennessee’s Department of Transportation and DriveTN have reached a deal that multiplies the total amount the group plans to pay many times over. The new deal would distribute about $7.7 billion during the construction phase, which is expected to last around eight years. The state estimates the “choice lanes” will open in 2035. Then, DriveTN would pay out more than $140 billion over the 50-year operating period, according to a release from TDOT.
TDOT will hold community meetings next month to share details on the deal:
- The first will be at Trevecca Nazarene University Nov. 17 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
- The second will be Nov. 18 at the Smyrna Event Center from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
TDOT wrote that the information will be the same at each meeting and will also be posted on the project website.
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