I-24 to Murfreesboro highlighted as top priority for ‘Choice Lanes’
State officials are prioritizing Interstate 24 between Nashville and Murfreesboro for one of the first “Choice Lane” projects under the recently passed Transportation Modernization Act.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation on Monday unveiled its 10-year project plan, including details on initiatives it wants to complete in the Nashville area. The state could seek bids from private companies interested in the Nashville-Murfreesboro project as soon as late 2024.
The $15 billion plan encompasses 93 projects using the annual TDOT work program budget and the $3 billion appropriation from the TMA.
TDOT’s Congestion Studies, completed in 2022, estimates that $26 billion is needed to address both urban and rural congestion. It has commissioned further traffic studies and is already talking to private-sector partners about the possibility of Choice Lanes, according to the plan.
The 10-year plan explains that Choice Lane projects would add new lanes to the areas recommended for the so-called “user-fee facility” mentioned in the TMA and would not be converting existing lanes. Drivers would pay a toll to access the added lanes. Research has found that adding lanes to highways can actually increase congestion in the long-term.
TDOT will recommend the first Choice Lanes project in Tennessee be on I-24 between Nashville and Murfreesboro. Other potential future locations include I-65 between Nashville and Spring Hill as well as locations in Chattanooga and Knoxville.
Democrats have filed a bill to change the language of the TMA so that TDOT must get approval of the local government where proposed toll lanes would be constructed. House Bill 1612 was filed by state Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville). As written, the TMA gives the authority to choose where the lanes would be constructed to the Transportation Modernization Board, which is made up of appointees by the governor and House and Senate speakers.
In a recently released audit of TDOT, the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury reported that state transportation officials believed that a toll lane from Murfreesboro to Nashville would be too difficult to complete, though some sections of the route would be possible. The audit was completed at the end of September and noted that by December, when it was released, a further assessment of the Choice Lane options would be completed.
TDOT Commissioner Butch Eley called the audit finding about I-24 “a misunderstanding,” per the Tennessee Lookout, though a top TDOT official said the stretch could still be completed in pieces.
The audit also notes that TDOT’s intention to use public-private partnerships as an alternative delivery method for construction of the Choice Lanes could “present new risks since the state has not previously engaged in these types of contracts.”
The 10-year plan provides funds to replace eight bridges in the Middle Tennessee region. TMA spending in each region is expected to be about $750 million in the next 10 years. The majority of Middle Tennessee’s is planned to be spent by 2027. There are similar spending patterns in the other regions.
The department is planning to complete eight road projects in Davidson County during the next decade, such as the widening of State Route 11 (Nolensville Road) between Nashville and Williamson County, I-40 interchange at McCrory Lane improvements and widening I-65 between Davidson and Sumner counties.
None of the $15 billion in state and federal funding is designated for multimodal transportation. TDOT notes in the plan that it will also allocate an additional $6 billion, or $600 million annually, over the next 10 years for multimodal transportation plans across the state.
