A lawsuit has been filed against the Tennessee Department of Transportation over public records related to the I-24 Southeast Choice Lanes project.
According to WSMV, the company 24 Choice Lanes Partners, which lost its bid for the project, filed the lawsuit Monday, Oct. 5.
TDOT selected DriveTN in August to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the $9.2 billion project, which will add Choice Lanes along 26 miles of I-24 between Nashville and Murfreesboro under a 50-year concession.
After the selection, 24CLP submitted a public records request to TDOT on Sept. 11 seeking proposals, financial information, evaluation materials, concession-payment negotiations, communications and other records related to the selection process.
The lawsuit says TDOT initially agreed to provide the records by Oct. 1 but later denied four requests, citing confidentiality exemptions and saying the procurement process was still ongoing.
24CLP argues those exemptions no longer applied because DriveTN had already been selected and the Transportation Modernization Board had approved the contract award. The lawsuit also says 24CLP submitted a second public records request on Oct. 1 seeking an electronic copy of the concession agreement and exhibits related to ongoing developer payments.
Commercial close for the project was reached Sept. 30, marking the completion of the agreement between TDOT and DriveTN.
The lawsuit says TDOT should have released the contract records under the Tennessee Public Records Act but had not done so. 24CLP is asking the court to order TDOT to release the records requested in both public records requests and find that the department violated the Tennessee Public Records Act.
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