The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread

[Nashvillain]

27 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

100% illogical and completely agree with @Deepdish53in the fact that we need to change the approach in which cars are always given the priority in how spending and improvements are handed out.

What this tells me though is we need to have another traffic signal installed at Wedgewood and 19th with pedestrian priority on it.

I think this is one of the biggest drawbacks to the countywide government. We are now fighting a battle to improve our urban core and rural residents who have no understanding of those requirements fight back against them because all they care about is getting in their 2-ton death mobile (using that phrase as an exaggeration only) and going as fast as possible from point A to point B. 

Given the rising death toll among pedestrians, "2-ton death mobile" is an accurate description, not an exaggeration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/14/us/pedestrian-deaths-pandemic.html

Just one article, but notice how the sub-heading makes no mention of road design as a cause 

[markhollin]

TDOT installing new digital signs over I-24 to help with traffic around crashes:

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/what-are-the-new-digital-signs-on-i-24-for?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2022.05.19 NASH&utm_term=NASHtoday Subscribers - MASTER

[markhollin]

Nashville commute times are rising as downtown workers return to offices. 

February and March 2022 saw a 125% increase — the largest increase among the cities studies — in trips to downtown Nashville compared to the same time period in 2020, which was prior to the drop in commuting caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Washington-based data and analytics company Inrix in a May report. 

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2022/05/18/nashvill-office-return-traffic-remote-work-commute.html

[markhollin]

NDOT's WalknBike Plan for 2022:

https://www.nashville.gov/sites/default/files/2022-04/WalknBike_Plan_4.1.22.pdf?ct=1650301700&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2022.05.31 NASH&utm_term=NASHtoday Subscribers - MASTER

[MagicPotato]

Rutherford Co. will eventually need some kind of inner loop. The population is reaching 400k+ in the next decade. At that rate, I don't know if the traffic within Rutherford Co will be manageable. 

Edited May 31, 2022 by MagicPotato

[DMilner]

3 hours ago, MagicPotato said:

Rutherford Co. will eventually need some kind of inner loop. The population is reaching 400k+ in the next decade. At that rate, I don't know if the traffic within Rutherford Co will be manageable. 

It's already a nightmare. My in-laws live in Murfreesboro and it took my wife and I 45 minutes to travel 8 miles after picking up dinner for them one evening. 

[MagicPotato]

7 hours ago, DMilner said:

It's already a nightmare. My in-laws live in Murfreesboro and it took my wife and I 45 minutes to travel 8 miles after picking up dinner for them one evening. 

The crazy thing is that there's still room to grow, but the infrastructure is the problem. It's a couple decades behind. 

[markhollin]

Nashville ranked 4th worst city in U.S. for bicycles:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/davidson/2022/06/02/nashville-ranked-fourth-worst-city-bikes/9968879002/

[smeagolsfree]

14 minutes ago, markhollin said:

Nashville ranked 4th worst city in U.S. for bicycles:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/davidson/2022/06/02/nashville-ranked-fourth-worst-city-bikes/9968879002/

Proves the point I was trying to make before. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. The crappy bike lanes they have are pretty useless when metro puts the little baffles in, and drivers plow right over them, and metro never replaces them. This is a car centric city and always will be until a major mass transit system is built. I may take gas staying at 6 bucks a gallon for an extended period of time to wake everyone up to get a proper transit system and proper bike lanes and sidewalks in the city, but I really doubt it. If Cooper is re-elected the I doubt anything will happen other than a few bus routes to nowhere will be added. 

Metro is notorious for not taking care of or maintaining the projects they build. That goes for parks, bike lanes greenways, etc. Look at how many times Metro has had to go in and clean up areas that the Homeless have taken over on the Greenways and then spend thousands of dollars. I can take this a few steps further about Metro spending in other areas and we see the same thing... Metro General Hosp. they were going to close it due to mis management, now a new hosp. and not even consulting Meharry. Raising Taxes and still a shortfall in Metro schools and the tax increase was supposed to fix everything.

But I digress, Metro mismanages everything they touch, and bike lanes is the least of them.

[nashville born]

On 5/31/2022 at 6:28 PM, MagicPotato said:

...but the infrastructure is the problem. It's a couple decades behind. 

Sounds familiar...

[Nashvillain]

Came across an interesting article and op-ed touching on issues pertinent to this thread that I thought I'd share. One's on reducing parking (with references to Donald Shoup--super important) and one's a deep dive into pedestrian deaths and systemic problems with car infrastructure

 

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/when-cars-kill-pedestrians

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/opinion/california-parking.html?searchResultPosition=1

[markhollin]

The new WeGo Green Hills Transit Station at night.

Looking SE from Hillsboro Pike, 1/2 block north of Abbott Martin Rd:

[markhollin]

Work underway on creating new 12th Ave. South with two primary lanes, central median with greenery, and bike lanes in both directions. The mile long stretch will run from The Gulch (Division St.) southward to Ashwood Ave.

 

[Nashvillain]

12 hours ago, markhollin said:

Work underway on creating new 12th Ave. South with two primary lanes, central median with greenery, and bike lanes in both directions. The mile long stretch will run from The Gulch (Division St.) southward to Ashwood Ave.

 

I was shocked to see how fast this has gotten underway. I'm excited to see how this turns out. 

[BnaBreaker]

Why isn't going all the way through the heart of 12 South?  

[PaulChinetti]

1 minute ago, BnaBreaker said:

Why isn't going all the way through the heart of 12 South?  

Not enough lanes. Unless they made it one way which would be awful.

[BnaBreaker]

15 minutes ago, PaulChinetti said:

Not enough lanes. Unless they made it one way which would be awful.

Oh yeah, I forgot it went from four to two lanes at that point.  Thanks!

[Nash_12South]

15 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

Not enough lanes. Unless they made it one way which would be awful.

Yes, I got behind a city bus (there is no place, currently, for them to pull over for stops) one morning last week and it added several frustrating minutes to my commute.  (I've definitely gotten spoiled with quick morning commutes) I also have noted long back ups (from the Gulch) in the afternoons with cars pulling off onto the side streets to avoid the really slow traffic. I do think once it is finished, it will be better than it currently is. 

Edited June 7, 2022 by Nash_12South

[rookzie]

3 hours ago, Nash_12South said:

Yes, I got behind a city bus (there is no place, currently, for them to pull over for stops) one morning last week and it added several frustrating minutes to my commute.  (I've definitely gotten spoiled with quick morning commutes) I also have noted long back ups (from the Gulch) in the afternoons with cars pulling off onto the side streets to avoid the really slow traffic. I do think once it is finished, it will be better than it currently is. 

Yes, I very well could have been in the back of that bus that held you up.  Too bad WeGo's buses were ordered without rear windows, like those in Oakland and Detroit, so I could look back and see who's stuck behind the bus, before I push the request-stop strip.  They might come for me, just for making the bus stop to let me off.

That's one of my general peeves with the administration as a whole ─ significant changes to sub-systems frequently never get addressed as an ecosystem, and the disparate issues such as existing mass transit ops almost always get the back seat or are excluded altogether from collaborative planning.  Thing is, I always saw that coming with the buses on 12th and along 12South, and I was reminded of that a few years ago, when the WeGo Nº 17 was rerouted through the constricted Gulch along former 11th Ave. Industrial.

Now the bus has tuned into a necessary evil with no provisions for pull-offs whatsoever along the trunk of the route ─ at least not from what I observed of the plan.

[BNAfan]

Saw a NDOT bike lane street sweeper in the wild today.    

[Nashvillain]

7 minutes ago, BNAfan said:

Saw a NDOT bike lane street sweeper in the wild today.    

I think they only have the one. Poor thing is going to be worn out quick

[BNAfan]

One?    

[Nashvillain]

1 hour ago, BNAfan said:

One?    

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Nashvillain

[CenterHill]

On 6/16/2022 at 5:38 PM, BNAfan said:

Saw a NDOT bike lane street sweeper in the wild today.    

Thank you, thank you, thank you!     I ride this particular bike lane on a regular basis and it's always full of leaves, sticks and trash.    Pretty much like all Nashville bike lanes.     But I'm encouraged that at least someone is thinking about them.   I'll personally chip in for gas money to keep this little guy running, lol 

        

[thenorthchannel]

Train tracks in The Gulch have been getting ripped up the last few weeks. If only they were being replaced by a mass transit solution.