Nashville transit options unveiled: Go big or small?

Is Nashville ready for an expensive regional transit system that would include commuter rail and cost billions over decades to build?

Or is there greater public appetite for only modest improvements to Metro's bus system?

A question of scale is at the heart of a new Metro Transit Authority report released Thursday that zeroes in on three possible scenarios to guide the city's future transit investments.

After months of community meetings as part of the agency’s nMotion transit planning process, MTA officials and consultants unveiled transit visions at a lengthy MTA board meeting. Proposals cover the full gamut of options, headlined by light rail on major Nashville corridors and commuter rail to connect Nashville with Clarksville.

Mayor Megan Barry’s administration wants the public to weigh in further before MTA recommends a final plan in the late spring or summer.

Nevertheless, the city’s top transit official, MTA Executive Director Steve Bland, made clear he believes it is time for the city to go “bigger and bolder” by embracing at least some of the components of the most audacious option outlined in the report.

Top-tier proposal

This scenario would be an all-encompassing, multi-modal regional system — one with a possible price tag of $5.4 billion through 2040 —  that would take decades to pull off. It is centered on light rail lines on four major corridors: Murfreesboro, Charlotte, Gallatin and Nolensville pikes.

It would have streetcar systems near the West End and Germantown neighborhoods; bus rapid transit on Dickerson Pike, West End and Hillsboro Pike; 11 new cross-town bus routes across Davidson County; and high-speed buses on nine regional corridors and three Nashville corridors.

In addition the plan would expand outside of Davidson County with commuter rail creating a new “Northwest Corridor” connecting Clarksville and Nashville, as well as "freeway BRT" that would allow buses to occupy the shoulders on interstates 65 and 24.

Middle-tier plan 

A middle-tier proposal would only involve the bus-oriented components of the top scenario.

This plan proposes bus rapid transit on corridors such as West End Avenue, as well as Charlotte, Dickerson, Gallatin, Nolensville and Murfreesboro pikes, and other rapid bus lines in Nashville neighborhoods such as East Nashville, the Hillsboro Pike area and MetroCenter. This scenario also includes new cross-town bus routes, as well as “freeway BRT” on interstates 24, 40 and 65.

Commuter rail would be limited only to improvements to Music City Star, the city’s only rail system that connects Wilson and Davidson counties.

The scenario would cost an estimated $2.4 billion through 2040.

Less ambitious plan

The less ambitious scenario centers on things such as expanding bus rapid transit lite — which Metro already has on three corridors — to new corridors, new crosstown routes, bus expressways on interstate shoulders, expanded local services and improvements to Music City Star.

Its estimated pricetag, $800 million through 2040, is significantly less than the others.

Community feedback

For months Nashville transit officials have gathered community feedback on the city's transit future after former Mayor Karl Dean retreated from a controversial proposal for a bus rapid transit plan called the Amp that would have gone down West End Avenue and Broadway. The consulting firm Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates led the nMotion process.

Bland, MTA’s director for the past year and a half, on Thursday cautioned the public to not simply vote for one particular scenario over others. Instead, he encouraged Nashvillians to take a “Chinese menu” approach that identifies preferred elements in each. In an interview with reporters, he made the pitch for large-scale solutions.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to advocate that we do something bigger and bolder that’s more impactful over the long term,” he said. “But the real point is to start to pivot our conversation to a more robust discussion with the community: What do we want our region to look like? What do we want travel patterns to look like over the next 20 or 30 years?

“I think it absolutely will be a discussion of, ‘Do we go big or do we do more modest improvements?’ And I think that is fair,” he said. “What I hope people don’t get bogged down in is just putting the blinders on saying, ‘Well, you know, that’s just too rich for my blood. Let’s just not do anything for the next 10 years.’”

Barry, who has called transportation one of her top priorities, in a written statement commended MTA and the Regional Transit Authority for “the deliberate, thoughtful and inclusive way” they’ve conducted the nMotion process. She called the upcoming public input process essential.

“The only way we’ll be able to create a transit system that truly meets the needs of this community is if the people have a say in what that system looks like, and this will be the opportunity to do just that,” Barry said.

Approval of a final plan would need to come in the summer from the MTA board. But identifying funding, which is much trickier, would decide whether projects ever get built.

Some board members on Thursday indicated that they, like Bland, want to set a bold, regional transit plan for the city. Among them was Janet Miller, a commercial real estate professional, who suggested that only improving existing services wouldn't accomplish the city’s goals.

“There’s 1.8 million people in pain because of increasing traffic and congestion,” Miller said. “So, philosophically, if we can’t impact that by getting choice riders and making this something that lots of people embrace, then what’s the point?”

Board member Walter Searcy, an attorney, questioned the logic of establishing three scenarios for the public to digest. He argued that the bold course of action should be taken now because of traffic congestion that is only expected to worsen as the area’s population rises.

He said cost is less of a concern because of the magnitude of the region’s traffic problem.

“Ultimately, we’re going to get here regardless, so we need a solution or that set of visions,” Searcy said. “It’s necessary.”

But it is still unclear whether most Nashvillians have a desire to undertake a costly mass transit project, particularly just one year after the failed Amp divided the city.

“It never comes down to just the technical solutions,” said Geoff Nelson, a project consultant, who instead pointed to the need to identify Nashville’s values. “Does this region have the appetite or really the desire to develop a system like this or not? That’s what the public process we’re going through will help us to determine.”

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.

Scenario 1

Scenario 2

Scenario 3