Kendra Akkowitz of Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office told the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee on Oct. 12 that the city is building centralized program-management capacity and beginning near‑term project planning for the Choose How You Move transportation program, the multibillion‑dollar plan voters approved last November.

Akkowitz said the administration envisions a central program-management office housed temporarily in the mayor’s office to coordinate across up to 10 departments, align finances, sequence projects and be the face of the program with state and federal partners. She said the city issued a program-management solicitation in late January, received three proposals, and will evaluate them this week with an intent to begin negotiations.

"This is a really significant program for our city. It's a multibillion-dollar transformational investment across Nashville," Akkowitz said, adding the mayor's office is organizing a "one‑city" supplier outreach approach to help small and local vendors learn how to partner on large procurements.

Akkowitz summarized the FY25 supplemental budget measures as partial funding to jump‑start planning, build staff capacity and fund foundational projects that will enable later construction (for example, fiber backbone for updated signals). She said the mayor’s office hopes to have a chief program officer in place by around July 1 (early next fiscal year) and that the office is partnering with a short‑term program‑management vendor to stand up systems now.

Committee members asked about long‑term institutionalization of the program beyond a single mayoral administration, the timeline for work to begin this fiscal year, procurement strategies to allow smaller firms to lead contracts, undergrounding utilities during corridor trenching and the early status of a Sobro transit hub. Akkowitz said FY25 supplemental funds are available now, some foundational projects will start this fiscal year, and the city is developing a comprehensive performance dashboard and sequencing criteria for project prioritization.

Why it matters: Choose How You Move is a large, multi‑year capital and service program that will reshape transit and street infrastructure. Early decisions about program structure, procurement and sequencing will determine how quickly projects move from planning to construction and how local businesses participate in contracting.

Ending: The mayor’s office will continue to update the committee as program management contracts are awarded and the chief program officer is onboarded.