Nashville Transit Proposal Would Connect Mid-State, Cost $6 Billion

NASHVILLE, TN — Over the next quarter century, Nashville and Clarksville will be connected by commuter rail, four different light rail lines will crisscross the city, true bus-rapid transit will come to town and bus-on-shoulder will become a reality.

After an 18-month study period, the Metropolitan Transit Authority staff recommended the most robust of transit proposals: a nearly-$6-billion plan that provides connectivity from Spring Hill to Springfield, Clarksville to Murfreesboro and Gallatin to Dickson.

It was the expected result, particularly after a Chamber of Commerce-led study group, Moving Forward softened the ground for the E-ticket proposal with their own recommendation last month.

The MTA delivered three different 25-year-plan proposals in January - essentially baby bear, mama bear and papa bear plans with extensiveness commensurate with expensiveness - and since then, the most expensive plan has gained the most traction, as the Nashville area braces for its population to double over the next 25 years.

MTA CEO Steve Bland said one of the keys is improving movement through downtown. Nashville's urban core is the hub in the spoked-wheel of the city's thoroughfares, a design that pre-dates even humanity, as most of the city's surface roads follow old hunting trails which themselves follow old buffalo paths. The easiest way to get across town is often through downtown, but at peak times, traffic in the core averages just 6 mph.

Thus, one of the touchstones of the plan is interconnectivity, which Bland said was a hold-up when the AMP bus-rapid transit plan failed. He said even supporters of the West-End-to-East-Side BRT did not understand how it would fit into a broader transit plan.

And this plan — "a comprehensive regional system" — is bold indeed.

In the short term, the plan calls for the in-town services of the MTA to better mesh with the Regional Transit Authority services, with unified branding, a single-ticketing system and better technology integration. There will also be an increase with frequent-service options — at least once every 15 minutes — throughout the day and into the weekend on the city's most heavily-traveled corridors, while adding more service on lesser-traveled routes and the rush-hour express services from the suburbs. There is also a called expansion for MTA's AccessRide paratransit program.

The plan also calls for a second transit center in the urban core and simplifying routes with a focus on fewer streets which will be given transit priority. In addition, there is a call for 16 cross-town or through-city routes. Presently, there are no through-city routes, as any trip into the city center requires a change to get across town. Further, there will be "regional transit centers," basically mini-Music City Centrals, both within Nashville across the Midstate to allow for more direct travel and amenities throughout the network.

Of course, it's "high capacity services" that get people talking, particularly rail, and those plans roll out in the most-distant part of the 25-year timeline. The plan calls for four light-rail lines, along four of those aforementioned old buffalo tracks: Charlotte Pike, Nolensville Road, Murfreesboro Road with a spur service to the airport, and Gallatin Road. In addition, the commuter line to Clarksville via Ashland City would act like light rail within North Nashville. The existing Music City Star commuter line which runs through to Lebanon will expand to an all-day, seven-day service.

There will also be dedicated bus-rapid transit lines on Dickerson Road with mid-level BRT service on the Hillsboro Road/West End corridor. There will be nine new in-town BRT Light services and three new ones regionally. Freeway BRT - which include access to the interstate right-of-way via special ramps - will "provide similar service to commuter rail" by using dedicated or managed lanes for buses to Murfreesboro via I-24, Franklin via I-65 and Rivergate and Hendersonville via I-65. There will also be numerous bus-on-shoulder lines.

The plan expects to grow average weekly ridership across the MTA and RTA system from 34,000 weekly rides to 180,000 rides, outstripping the pace of population growth.

Of course, there is the matter of paying for such a massive overhaul of the system. There will be a capital cost of $5.9 billion and recurring costs of $338 million. With the expected population growth, that comes to $244 per person per year in the region (the current annual cost per person is around $67).

The funding source, needless to say, is unclear, but Bland says that regions that have successfully expanded transit have explained to their constituents the return on investment have about a 70 percent pass rate when funding goes to a vote.