volsfanwill

well we already have naked giants and the loop from Opryland's wabash canon ball as public art, so it really could be anything.

I dug a little deeper, I think we are all late to the party. Most of the vacant lots were last sold on the same day. So it looks like someone is already buying it up and sitting on it.

I just looked up home values for that hill on zillow.com there are a couple houses for sale for $70k and a couple foreclosures, the empty lots are estimated at $17k each and most houses not for sale are estimated at between $60k and $115k. in other words. I wish I had a slightly larger bank account.

Volvo is located right where Lafayette turns into Murfreesboro pike, I accidentally drove by it last weekend and was surprised to find it there. I realize a Volvo isn't quite a BMW but it isn't a Ford Either.

I was able to drive around downtown on Monday and see everything under construction, I took my mom with me since she had not been downtown in years. We were both amazed at all the development since we last saw it. Even in the middle of the day it was obvious that west end already needs a transit line and will greatly benefit from it with the new developments going up. Music City Center looks amazing but seeing it up close led me to a question. Why does a Street run through the middle of it? Does it currently serve a function? Or was it pre planning for future transit? This thought occurred to me because the LRT in Charlotte runs through part of their convention center with a station inside.

I know I'm a week or so late on this topic but, I think that the improvements to Vandy's stadium over the last 10 years or so are great. Adding the brick and iron gates looks 100 times better than it used to. Also, after sitting through the entire UT game last November, I was impressed with the changes to the open endzone. I really liked the new look of the berm compared to the old pavement/wooden bleachers/hospitality tents that have been there in the past Also, ditching battleship grey was a smart move. Now they just need more restrooms. Another thing that impressed me was that this was the first UT Vandy game that I had ever been to and been in the minority fan group. And I've been to a lot!

Orange is reserved for the platform at the new Amtrak station for trains headed to Knoxville. Now hold on while I laugh very hard at my delusions for a while.

Funny, every time I have made a map (many over the years as my thoughts change) I always use gold for Vandy and Blue for the commuter line to Murfreesboro for MTSU.

Brandon, I actually think your idea for a massive BRT system is great. As you point out Buffalo is a waterfront city, Cleveland is also, that is actually one of the problems with Nashville, where those two cities have a downtown near water and development on 3 sides, Nashville is developed on all sides. Multiple BRT lines feeding in and out of downtown along the main Davidson county corridors is much more financially responsible than LRT. My difference though is that I think some lines could eventually be upgraded to LRT. But at that point it should be underground. Also, I truly believe that heavy rail from the suburbs is needed. Williamson, Rutherford, and Sumner Counties need better transit access into the city. I have a friend who likes to debate with me about this, his favorite thing to point out is that Tennesseans dont like transit, I always point out that we dont have that many options. The current commuter line to Lebanon is inconvenient for many people that would use it if there were more frequent trains. The most needed is to Rutherford county, connect it with a comprehensive BRT system and people will use it. on a complete tangent, all this will help people get to games when we get an MLB team, but that's another story.

After reading this forum for about a week, I have wanted to bring up San Francisco. I am glad it has now been brought up. I believe that is the model that Nashville should follow. Let me elaborate further. SF has 2 separate systems. BART is heavy rail that serves the bay area, it connects the Airport with downtown SF where it is underground and stations are close together. It then travels under the bay to Oakland and serves more as a commuter rail system with stations at much wider distances. There are 4 lines beginning in various cities north south and east that cross the bay with a fourth that only serves the Eastern part of the bay from north to south. Trains are less frequent on the outskirts and increase in frequency as lines converge. Within SF they share a single tunnel making the time between trains very small. I believe they are currently trying to expand the system south to the southern end of the bay. The second system is the SF MUNI. It is LRT and is very similar to the Boston Green line and one of the lines in Philadelphia. As noted above it shares stations with BART in the most dense area of downtown. The different lines separate and spread southwest through the city, As with BART trains are much more frequent in the tunnels because they converge into a single line. throughout the rest of the city the trains run on tracks embedded in streets. They have recently built a new line that is completely above ground and are building a new (controversial) line that runs perpendicular to the existing lines. Since the city is roughly 7 miles square, LRT works great with in the city, (the bus and trolley bus system are also outstanding) Heavy Rail works great as a downtown subway and commuter rail. While visiting last year I used both systems while sightseeing. Google maps on my phone was dead on with schedules and directions for getting across town and even crossing the bay to see the university of California in Berkeley and going to Alameda to see the USS Hornet. To translate this to Nashville as a long term plan. Build the BRT as planned on west end. With future lines on Charlotte and even into Germantown and 12th. Some eventually to be Replaced with LRT. Build a heavy rail system to Franklin, Murfreesboro, and Gallatin all following existing RR row. These can initially arrive at a main downtown station near the old Union Station. This could also be a connection for the return of Amtrak to Nashville. Eventually they should be moved into a tunnel under downtown either under 4th or 5th ave. I read one report that building a commuter line to Clarksville like the existing Music City Star already has sufficient demand based on existing park and ride buses. There also needs to be something connecting the airport with downtown. It could be a bus connecting to a stop on the Murfreesboro HRT line, or a direct LRT to downtown. Obviously, I realize I just listed a $Billion or so. But this could all be phased in over years, a single line at a time or a multiple lines at once but in short distances at a time. As previously stated we are behind Atlanta in the 70s. Buffalo was mentioned, but not its population, at the time they built their system they were the size of Nashville now, but the population has now decreased like most rust belt cities. In other words, Buffalo has a functional rapid transit system with a smaller population than Nashville. The only gripe I had in SF was that the 2 systems had separate fare systems ( I believe they were in the process of changing that). I purchased a tourist pass for MUNI (good for LRT, Buses, trolley buses, the heritage street car and even the cable cars, great deal if you ever go) at the airport and simply flashed it to the driver when I got on a bus or at a window to ride the LRT, But I had to get a separate pass for BART.