AG’s Office Says It Lacks Authority to Investigate Choice Lanes Contract

Tennessee House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) is pushing for the state attorney general’s office to investigate the state’s bidding and awarding process for its planned toll lanes along a key segment of Interstate 24.

The state last month selected DriveTN — a global consortium of transit and infrastructure companies — to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the $9.2 billion project. State officials have said this is expected to provide $24.8 billion in concession value to Tennessee.

DriveTN is led by Spanish global infrastructure company Ferrovial's U.S. transit infrastructure developer, Austin-based Cintra. The group, which was one of four global groups vying for the project, also includes Australian company Transurban, Tikehau Star Infra (a U.S. subsidiary of France-based Tikehau Capital) and Dallas-based AECOM.

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State Selects Builder for $9.2 Billion I-24 Choice Lanes Plan

Construction of the Choice Lanes is expected to result in the use of eminent domain, which could displace single-family homes along the corridor

A recent report by The Tennessean notes a history of bankruptcies and price gouging by the chosen companies. The report also notes that a former chief of staff with the Tennessee Department of Transportation departed the position to work for Ferrovial Cintra, the consortium's lead company, just a few months before submitting the bid.

"Today's report in The Tennessean has raised everyone's eyebrows a little higher, especially when you consider the Lee administration's history of no-bid contracts and alarming lack of transparency over the past eight years,” Clemmons says in a statement.

“The fact they have never been able to, much less try to, justify how privatizing our roadways is going to help alleviate traffic congestion in our region only serves to create more suspicions about Lee's real motivations with this entire project. Even more red flags are raised because of TDOT's vigorous defense of these winning companies and its attempts to downplay their well-documented history of serious legal and financial issues.”

Clemmons is calling for Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti to investigate the project’s procurement process. Democratic lawmakers have previously criticized the project, arguing that Choice Lanes will be a detriment to working-class families in Middle Tennessee and public transit should be the state’s focus instead.

“The truth of the matter is that, despite Bill Lee's claims to the contrary, significant taxpayer dollars and state resources will continue to be tied up in this proposed boondoggle for years to come while billionaires profit off of working families,” says Clemmons.

“At the very least, those families have the right to know whether everyone involved in this project has clean hands or whether this project is nothing more than Bill Lee handing out golden parachutes to former employees on his way out the door."

Attorney general's office spokesperson Phil Buehler told Scene sister publication the Nashville Post Tuesday that the office does not have the authority to investigate Clemmons’ claims, referencing a 2005 opinion released by the office.

“We carefully considered whether the Attorney General’s Office has the power to independently investigate state procurements, including the Choice Lanes procurement,” Buehler says. “The office does not have general investigative authority. Instead, it only has authority to conduct investigations into certain matters.”

This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.