nashveit

I wrote about this topic on my blog last fall. It's really good to see the discussion ramping up on this forum as well as in the local media. I don't know that we'll get the route changed, but we're at least making a good case for Charlotte to be next on the planning sheet. These are some points that I made about why I think BRT would be successful on Charlotte. Forgive me if some of these points have already been beaten into the ground. Charlotte Avenue for the most part, runs parallel to the proposed route and still touches most of the major institutions within the proposed corridor footprint (Charlotte and West End are separated by less than two miles at the widest point, with a majority of their separation distance being less than a mile). • The Charlotte corridor stands to benefit far more in the way of economic development than does West End. • Charlotte BRT would be closer to campuses in North Nashville (TSU, Fisk) • Charlotte BRT would be closer to the medical district (including Metro General) • Charlotte BRT would avoid going through pedestrian choked Lower Broad, but still close enough to walk to/from • Charlotte BRT would retain the same route as the current proposal once you cross the Cumberland • Charlotte BRT would have potential Park & Ride sites that are closer to I-40 (on the west) and NOT in already congested areas • Charlotte BRT would still go through the main bus terminal, Music City Central (it’s ON Charlotte!) • Charlotte BRT could still marry up with Woodland St./Main across the river • Charlotte BRT would go past the Legislative Plaza and state office buildings • Charlotte BRT would go past the new Public Health Center (Lentz being constructed at 26th Ave) • Charlotte BRT would go past Nashville West and adjoining retail (West End lacks a retail destination this size) • Charlotte Avenue is full of vacant properties - you could practically have a plethora of choices of where to put your Park & Ride sites, as opposed to cramming them into already congested areas along West End (White Bridge & Elmington Park). • You could potentially go FURTHER WEST along Charlotte in the future and capture more ridership among residents in Hillwood and Bellevue. West End route will stop at White Bridge - do you honestly see Belle Meade letting a BRT line come through? • BRT along Charlotte would also better serve the communities it bisects. The population that lives along the Charlotte corridor would be much more open to using mass transit than the demographic that lives in the West End corridor (read middle class vs. affluent). • Since Charlotte lacks the current development/retail traffic that WEnd has, the impact that construction will have on day to day comings and goings of drivers/pedestrians would also be lessened. A list of west side neighborhoods a West End BRT would directly service: • Cherokee Park • Whitland • Whitworth • Richland/West End • Hillsboro/West End • Vanderbilt A list of west and north side neighborhoods a Charlotte BRT would directly service: • West Meade (northern portion) • Hillwood • Croleywood • Beacon Square • Charlotte Park • White Bridge • Urbandale/Nations • Sylvan Park • Sylvan Heights • College Heights/Clifton • Hadley/Washington • FANG • Watkins Park • Hope Gardens bwithers made a great point. While Charlotte has it's eyesores and rough spots, a good majority of the neighborhoods along Charlotte are not poor communities by any stretch of the imagination. So I really don't think that having "Charlotte Ave folks" riding the BRT is going to continue to label mass transit as something "only for poor people". If the bottom line here is ridership=success, then the MTA stats in the article alone make this a no-brainer. 100,000 more along Charlotte than on West End? UTGrad09 - I really like the hybrid idea you suggested. It makes a lot of sense.

CP article from Monday. Regarding route/funding for BRT http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/brt-route-set-or-it

Was this the Gulch news you were referring to? Can you dish on Charlotte yet?

There's also a vacant Mrs. Winners/Church's that's been sitting on Charlotte Avenue for over a year...

You're right it's not. But that's not my argument. What destinations does West End have (besides Vanderbilt and Centennial Park) that are going to so sorely missed if it doesn't have BRT? Charlotte has many more neighborhoods that surround it and more people that would be open to BRT. Many West End neighborhoods have already voiced concerns about the added congestion a BRT line would bring to West End/White Bridge Road area if you were to add a Park & Ride there. I still don't know where they would put this.

I've been saying this for awhile - BRT needs to run down Charlotte (it would have to be something other than median based BRT, since Charlotte isn't as wide) Here are some strong arguments: • Charlotte is in much greater need of economic dev boost than West End, and BRT would ramp up the momentum that is already building for Charlotte's revitalization • Charlotte BRT would service campuses in North Nashville (TSU, Fisk, Meharry) • Charlotte BRT would be closer to the medical district (including Metro General) • Charlotte BRT would avoid going through pedestrian choked Lower Broad, but still close enough to walk to/from • Charlotte BRT would retain the same route as the current proposal once you cross the Cumberland • Charlotte BRT would have potential Park & Ride sites that are more easily accessed and closer to I-40 (on the west) • Charlotte BRT would still go through the main bus terminal, Music City Central (it’s ON Charlotte!) • Charlotte BRT would still marry up with Woodland St./Main across the river • Charlotte BRT would go past the Legislative Plaza and state office buildings • Charlotte BRT would go past the new Public Health Center and OneC1ty development near 28th/31st connector • Charlotte BRT would go past Nashville West and adjoining retail as well as the proposed Boyle development in N. Gulch (West End lacks a retail destination this size) • Charlotte Avenue is full of vacant properties - you could practically have a plethora of choices of where to put your Park & Ride sites, as opposed to cramming them into already congested areas along West End (White Bridge and Elmington Park - people in these neighborhoods got upset about the increased traffic that a proposed Chik Fil A near WestEnd/White Bridge would bring- how do you think they're going to react to BRT?). • You could potentially go FURTHER WEST along Charlotte and capture more ridership among residents in Hillwood and Bellevue. West End route will stop at White Bridge - do you honestly see Belle Meade letting a BRT line come through? • BRT along Charlotte would also better serve the greater number of communities it runs through. The population that lives along the Charlotte corridor would be much more open to using mass transit than the demographic that lives along the West End corridor (read middle class vs. affluent). I wasn't able to find any statistics, but I'm willing to bet that the ridership on the current Charlotte MTA route is much higher than that of routes along West End. • Construction of BRT on Charlotte would have less of an impact on businesses and traffic. So my question is why not Charlotte Avenue? I've even come up with a proposed route...

Yes, that is the one drawback of the BRT line running along Charlotte. Charlotte is a mostly four lanes with a turn lane, and then small sections that have no turn lane, and then west of White Bridge it bottlenecks to two lanes. Obviously some street widening would have to happen in certain spots, or an alternative to median based BRT gets implemented. To me that seems like a easier hurdle to jump, than the many hurdles a West End route would pose. I do feel like the residents along Charlotte would embrace BRT much more than those who live along West End corridor.

Some strong arguments for routing BRT to Charlotte Avenue>>Main Street rather than West End>>Main Street ....don't knock it til you read it. http://charlotteave.blogspot.com/2012/09/making-case-for-brt-along-charlotte.html

Old TDOT property at 2200 Charlotte rumored to be sold... http://nashvillepost.com/news/2012/8/21/developer_near_deal_for_prominent_charlotte_site

New wayfinding signage on Charlotte near the 28th/31st Connector project - looks like more are getting installed closer to 25th...i like it.

Did some digging and found this embedded in an Eleven North investor packet from Jones Lang LaSalle...have a look at all the goodies they dumped on the NW/Boyle Development...looks as if they're just trying to entice their investors...they even put the new Sounds stadium in there! My bet would be Publix as well. There was talk late last year that Target had pulled out and we've all gotten our hopes up before with IKEA... https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:vUVXk7tVgmoJ:www.us.am.joneslanglasalle.com/MediaResources/AM/Email/CapitalMarkets/Eleven_North_Flyer.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShBpFk6d-coU2qEPsKul_D3RaQidAAjeYW1H-9UV4aImEb0D4I3QK2uWprR6uLTazAaWbIdk13-P6RiB0mdbuolpQkE0lV6NZ67zu_gODIfRHerD6eEi-ISbEN33uRpbA28ZWe3&sig=AHIEtbS-ee6T4x_iMJeHQQnNe3FGvY8hxQ&pli=1

I believe I read that it's going to be a 5/3 Bank.