NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Last November, Nashvillians said “Yes” to the city’s first mass-transit plan by 66% of the vote. The plan, “Choose How You Move,” includes its own funding.
The $3.1 billion project will be paid for, in part, by a half-cent sales tax hike.
Transit includes cars, buses and sidewalks for pedestrians. “Choose How You Move” addresses each component of transit.
“We are already now at that point where we’ve selected the first round of projects that can happen starting this year,” Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said.
O’Connell told News 2 he was pleased with the progress so far, but he knows there’s a long way to go.
“All of this is focused on safety and efficiency so that not only are we moving more people — fundamentally — along our streets, [but] we’re doing so more safely,” O’Connell added.
Synchronizing traffic lights is underway; O’Connell said that within about five years, the city could get to “about 50% of the density of our anticipated traffic signals being upgraded.” At the five year mark, O’Connell hopes Nashville drivers feel like they’re catching more green lights along Music City’s side streets.
“We’ve been looking at, ‘Where can we systematically lower costs for Nashvilians?'” O’Connell said. “We know that transportation and housing are the top two household costs. Hopefully, this helps us put some downward pressure there.”
Dedicated bus lanes for speedier service are in use. Additional bus routes and additional buses are also on the way, with O’Connell highlighting the desire to expand to 24/7/365 service.
“You’re going to see, in this first round of projects, a couple of snippets where on a corridor we may be able to take advantage of…really wide streets,” O’Connell said.
A dedicated route from downtown Nashville to the airport is still to come. Murfreesboro Pike will be a key to that airport connection and he hopes to make the corridor safer for pedestrians, too.
“Our hope now is that we will have three urban community transit centers in addition to WeGo Central, which is operating today,” O’Connell said. “We would have a south-of-Broadway transit center fairly near to the convention center off of Lafayette and airport travelers would come right to that.”
“Choose How You Move” is still in progress and will stay in progress for years to come.
