The road construction group building Tennessee’s toll lanes along the I-24 southeast corridor is upping the ante, promising to pay the state nearly $148 billion over 50 years to lock in the deal, six times more than initially guaranteed.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation and DriveTN, a consortium led by Spain-based Ferrovial, announced Tuesday they reached an agreement on the amount the six-company group will pay the state over a half-century to secure the project, dramatically more than nearly $25 billion offered in August when the state approved the bid. The group will take on the $9.2 billion construction job, building toll lanes roughly 30 miles from downtown Nashville to Murfreesboro and along I-440 and I-40 East in Nashville.
The state’s Transportation Modernization Board awarded the project to DriveTN based largely on its promise to concede $24.8 billion in payments to the state over the eight-year construction phase. The consortium would try to recoup its expenses by charging motorists to use the toll lanes in the congested sector of highways over the next half-century…