The team proposes adding two price-managed lanes in each direction along approximately 26 miles of I-24, from I-40 near downtown Nashville to I-840 near Murfreesboro, while retaining the existing general-purpose lanes. Work also includes improvements where I-24 connects with I-40 and I-440.

“We knew incremental change would not be enough to meet the demands of one of the fastest-growing states in America,” Gov. Bill Lee said in announcing the selection.

DriveTN will design, build, finance, operate and maintain the managed lanes under a proposed 50-year revenue-risk concession, meaning the private partner assumes traffic and toll-revenue risk. Tennessee officials say it would be the largest U.S. public-private partnership concession to date for an interstate Choice Lanes project.

The agreement is not final and some proposal details remain confidential while negotiations continue. TDOT says it is working with the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's Build America Bureau as it reviews DriveTN's proposal.

“Our responsibility now is to verify the commitments, complete the required reviews, finalize the agreement and deliver as promised,” TDOT Commissioner Will Reid said in a statement.

The lanes would use open-road electronic tolling with rates that change with traffic conditions. The federally reviewed operating concept requires an average speed of at least 45 mph during peak periods.

TDOT's federally reviewed baseline design calls for realigning or reconstructing about 17 miles of existing general-purpose and HOV lanes and resurfacing general-purpose lanes throughout the project limits. The plan also includes 14 managed-lane access points, 37 bridge replacements, three bridge widenings and 55 new bridges.

The plan, for which the Federal Highway Administration issued a finding of no significant impact June 16, also calls for approximately 77 retaining walls totaling 18.9 miles and identifies about 30 potential noise barriers.

The design uses elevated structures to negotiate constraints along the developed corridor. Elevated managed lanes are planned where existing interchanges, development, streams and floodplains limit conventional widening, particularly between downtown Nashville and State Route 155, or Briley Parkway. In some locations, the new lanes would pass above the existing interstate.

Some bridge work also addresses deficiencies in the existing highway. The baseline design replaces the I-24 bridge over Mill Creek and includes about a half-mile of approach work to address flooding. At Bell Road, the project would replace another substandard bridge and raise about a half-mile of I-24 to provide the required vertical clearance.

Interchange work includes a new managed-lane-only connection at Elm Hill Pike, modifications at five existing I-24 interchanges and conversion of the Almaville Road interchange near Murfreesboro to a diverging-diamond configuration.

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DriveTN's selected proposal changes that baseline design. The consortium proposes placing the Choice Lanes outside the existing general-purpose lanes, which TDOT says would create a tighter footprint in portions of the corridor and reduce overall right-of-way impacts. The federally reviewed design anticipated approximately 43 acres of property acquisition.

TDOT says the redesign would avoid impacts to Noble Place Townhomes and the Pan-Asia Supermarket and eliminate the need to reconstruct the Hickory Hollow Parkway Bridge. The proposal includes park-and-ride facilities and provisions for future transit integration, but TDOT has not released revised bridge, retaining-wall or right-of-way quantities for DriveTN's design.

DriveTN's approximately $9.2-billion construction proposal is more than twice the $4.5-billion estimate TDOT now cites for its base project. The department says the difference reflects additional features and improvements in the selected proposal, not a higher price for the same scope.

The proposal also includes approximately $24.8 billion in concession value—the team's offer based on its assessment of the corridor's potential value after project and financing costs. TDOT says the amount is not unrestricted cash available to the state and will not be secured until final terms and protections are in place.

TDOT has yet to set a construction schedule. Federal traffic analysis of TDOT's baseline design assumed a 2032 opening, but TDOT says it has not finalized the construction start, sequencing, duration and opening dates for DriveTN's proposal.