HNTB wins bid to manage Nashville's $6.9B transit expansion
A national company has won a bid to put Nashville's multibillion-dollar transit expansion into gear.
Metro has chosen HNTB to serve as program manager for Choose How You Move, the name of Mayor Freddie O'Connell's transportation program that won approval of almost two-thirds of voters in November.
The selection adds another central player to the roster of officials and contractors tasked with following through on the 15-year vision O'Connell cast in his transit plan. It would cost an estimated $3.1 billion to fully create everything today in that plan — whose price tag grows to $6.9 billion over those 15 years when accounting for operating costs, inflation and interest payments on construction bonds the city will be issuing.
Davidson County's sales tax increased to 9.75% as a result of the transit referendum, establishing the city's first-ever revenue dedicated to transit. Key features of the proposal include overhauls to major corridors with bus-only lanes; almost 90 miles of new or upgraded sidewalks; creation of new crosstown routes and a dozen transit centers around the county; and adding technology at 600 intersections to synchronize signals to keep traffic moving more smoothly.
HNTB beat three competitors for the Metro contract, which has an initial term of five years and can be extended another five years with Metro Council approval.
HNTB has a lot of experience with infrastructure design and transportation projects. The Metro officials who evaluated the bids gave the Kansas City-based company a perfect 40-out-of-40 score in the "relevant program experience" category.
The company has beefed up its Nashville office in the last couple of years and just in the Southeast has worked on transit and airport projects in Atlanta, Raleigh, Orlando and Tampa.
Robbie Hayes, who's based in Nashville as HNTB's Tennessee group director, served as treasurer of Nashville Moves, an independent 501(c) nonprofit that supported the pro-transit campaign of 2024. According to state campaign finance records, HNTB donated $25,000 to the Nashville Moves Action Fund, which financed the pro-transit push.
The selection of HNTB, formally announced April 21, came just a few days after O'Connell revealed who he hired on his staff to serve as chief program officer for Choose How You Move. That person is Sabrina Sussman, who's relocating from Washington, D.C., after most recently serving as a senior adviser for Pete Buttigieg during his tenure as President Joe Biden's transportation secretary.
The contract award is pending a 10-day period in which protests can be filed.
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