Commercial close took place on 30 September, putting the 50-year I-24 Southeast concession on the path to financial close. The rival consortium led by ACS and Acciona is now challenging the award in court. Tennessee selected the Ferrovial-led DriveTN consortium on 19 August 2026 for a project covering about 42 kilometres between I-40 east of Nashville and I-840 near Murfreesboro.
Sources familiar with the case told EFE the companies want to determine whether Tennessee’s selection process was transparent and treated bidders equally. The 24 Choice Lanes Partners consortium includes ACS and Acciona, with Meridiam as a partner. It has sought tender records under the Tennessee Public Records Act and taken its request for the full award file to Davidson County Chancery Court. Its initial aim was to obtain documents, not to seek immediate cancellation of the award. The consortium had already sent several requests for clarification to the state department but received no response.
The court challenge is separate from the US proposal for a charge on Spanish-flagged ships, covered in an earlier report.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure, or NDOT, selected DriveTN last August. The consortium also includes Australian company Transurban and Tikehau, an infrastructure investor within France’s Tikehau Capital group. DriveTN will finance and operate the project, and maintain it. Its value is put at $9.2bn, while the estimated concession value to Tennessee is $24.8bn. Together, the construction investment and concession value come to about $34bn.
The competing bid from ACS, Acciona and Meridiam included a concession value of $7.25bn. A separate consortium led by Sacyr bid $7.4bn; Plenary and Shikun & Binui were also part of that group.
The plan covers about 42 kilometres between I-40 east of Nashville and I-840 near Murfreesboro. It calls for two dynamically priced toll lanes in each direction. The four existing general-purpose lanes will remain free and under TDOT’s responsibility. It is Tennessee’s first public-private transport partnership and its largest project of this kind.
Construction is expected to take about eight years, starting in 2029. The road is due to enter service in 2034, Ferrovial chief executive Ignacio Madridejos said. Ferrovial expects to secure financing before the contractual deadline in July 2027. September’s commercial close set the contractual terms and opened the period leading to financial close.
Toll rates will change with demand and traffic conditions, with the stated aim of keeping speeds and journey times predictable. The pricing system has a flexible threshold: rates can rise beyond it without a preset formula or maximum cap. TDOT will receive a share of revenue once specified thresholds are exceeded. The developer will retain 100% of toll revenue up to $3.2 per mile.
