Interstate 24 Southeast Choice Lanes
Updated November 2026
Contract signed. The project moves into design. TDOT reached commercial close with DriveTN on September 30. There is no public comment period open right now.
TDOT and DriveTN are holding an open house on Tuesday, November 17, from 3 to 7 p.m. at Trevecca Nazarene University, Zelma Auditorium, 502 Lester Avenue, Nashville 37210. Drop in any time. TDOT says it will share DriveTN's conceptual design and projected schedule. A second, identical open house is Wednesday, November 18, 3 to 7 p.m., at the Smyrna Event Center. To ask for an accommodation, contact TDOT's ADA coordinator, Shanna Chevalier, at Shanna.Chevalier@tn.gov or (615) 741-0465, at least 10 days ahead.
Where the Project Stands
The Federal Highway Administration approved the project's environmental review on June 16, 2026. The state selected DriveTN in August to build and operate the lanes, and reached commercial close — the signed contract — on September 30, 2026. TDOT held its public hearings in March 2026.
TDOT's October announcement says the lanes are expected to open in 2035, and that financial close is expected in the third quarter of 2027.
About the Letters
Homeowners in Glencliff began receiving letters from TDOT in late July and early August 2026.
TDOT has said publicly that these letters are not eminent domain notices and that no property acquisitions have been finalized — that only a limited number of properties are known to be impacted, and that individual impacts should not be treated as final until the design, environmental and right-of-way reviews are complete. Councilmember Ginny Welsch has said that District 16 alone could lose more than thirty homes.
Those two statements are hard to hold at once, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we can say plainly is this: a letter is not a final decision, and the design is still under review. If you received one, you have not lost your house, and it is not too late to be heard.
If you received a letter...
Please get in touch. We are keeping track of which streets and which blocks are affected, and we carry that record into every conversation we have with city and state officials — so that what is happening on your street gets named specifically in those rooms, instead of being described in general terms by people it isn't happening to.
We want to be straight with you about the limits of that. We are neighbors, not lawyers. We cannot negotiate with TDOT on your behalf, we cannot review your offer, and we cannot promise you an outcome. What we can do is make sure this is on the record and that you are not going through it unnoticed.
You also have rights under federal law. Acquisition and relocation for a project like this are governed by the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act — the "Uniform Act" — which sets requirements for appraisal, fair compensation, and relocation assistance. TDOT's own project FAQ says that TDOT and DriveTN will follow it. It is worth understanding before you are asked to sign anything.
The ask, and where it stands
Where this project runs through our neighborhoods, we are asking what it puts back. Not a position on the toll lanes — our members disagree about those, and this does not require settling that. A narrower question: the state has just signed a $9.2 billion deal to build toll lanes through here. Given that, what should TDOT invest in the state roads these neighborhoods actually live on?
Those are Nolensville Pike, Murfreesboro Pike, Harding Place, Old Hickory Boulevard, Thompson Lane and Briley Parkway — roads TDOT already owns, and that this project will pour traffic onto during construction and after.
Why now. The state selected DriveTN in August and signed in September, but the design work and the final list of enhancements are still ahead. The improvements announced alongside the selection — a Bell Road redesign protecting the Pan-Asia Supermarket, avoiding the Noble Place Townhomes, park-and-ride facilities — are specific and local. Somebody asked for each of those. The list is still being written.
The case is not speculative. TDOT's own crash records for Nolensville Pike between I-440 and Haywood Lane show 2,412 crashes from January 2021 through September 2026. Eighteen people were killed. Forty-six more were seriously injured, and fifty of those crashes involved someone on foot. That is one segment of one road.
Where it has gone. Neighborhood and community groups across South Nashville and Antioch have been building one joint list. We wrote to Metro Council members and to our state legislators in September asking what their offices had already heard from constituents. Groups met on October 15 to rank everything that came in and agree on a short joint list. Rep. John Ray Clemmons has been advising us on how to frame a request the state is in a position to act on.
What happens next. We will post the prioritized list here once it is final.
If one of these roads is your street, tell us. We carry the specifics into every one of these rooms.
Contacts:
TDOT project team: TDOT.24ChoiceLanes@tn.gov · project hotline (615) 451-8039
16th United: 16thunited@gmail.com · 615-873-0262