Investigations

On August 23, the FHWA's Tennessee Division was reimbursed an additional $11 million by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (T-DOT) as a result of its earlier findings that federally-funded ITF projects were not constructed or operating in accordance with the project's plan. On August 4, 2006, T-DOT reimbursed FHWA $9 million of the $20 million in FHWA funds intended for use on the ITF project. As proposed, the $26.6 million parking garage project was supposed to include transportation offices/waiting areas and accommodate passengers transferring between city buses, trolleys and automobiles -- with either free parking or monetary incentives provided for transit passengers. Our investigation and a T-DOT audit, disclosed that the 1,700-space parking garage was operated for-profit by a franchise of the NBA Grizzlies team, based on an agreement with the City of Memphis.