JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves says he did not pressure the Mississippi Department of Transportation to build a road near his gated neighborhood.

Reeves says Wednesday that Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall pushed for the proposed $2 million frontage road. It would run next to Mississippi Highway 25, also known as Lakeland Drive in the Jackson suburb of Flowood, and would connect two upscale subdivisions to a shopping center.

Department of Transportation executive director Melinda McGrath said in a news report published this week that there was “political pressure” from the Legislature to build the road.

She said much of the communication from the Capitol to her department was verbal. The newspaper reported Reeves’ staff and his neighborhood’s property owners association communicated with the department about the road.