The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread

[bnacincy]

65 is 6 lanes from Louisville to the TN state line.  TDOT is currently in phase one of widening 65 from 4 lanes to 6 from the state line to exit 97 (Long Hollow Pike).

Tennessee is a pay as you go state as far as road construction goes while Kentucky issues bonds backed by gaming revenue from the Thoroughbred Racing Industry.

So for a state that is not exactly the wealthiest in the land Kentucky has some pretty decent roads.

[KJHburg]

13 minutes ago, bnacincy said:

65 is 6 lanes from Louisville to the TN state line.  TDOT is currently in phase one of widening 65 from 4 lanes to 6 from the state line to exit 97 (Long Hollow Pike).

Tennessee is a pay as you go state as far as road construction goes while Kentucky issues bonds backed by gaming revenue from the Thoroughbred Racing Industry.

So for a state that is not exactly the wealthiest in the land Kentucky has some pretty decent roads.

yes Kentucky has very good roads.,  I just looked up the TN DOT budget and it is about $1.2 B vs NC's DOT $5 B budget.    TN has 65% of the population of NC but only 24% of the DOT budget NC has.  I see the big problem now.  

[bnacincy]

27 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

yes Kentucky has very good roads.,  I just looked up the TN DOT budget and it is about $1.2 B vs NC's DOT $5 B budget.    TN has 65% of the population of NC but only 24% of the DOT budget NC has.  I see the big problem now.  

Tennessee is always playing catch up to its neighbors wrt road construction but the State seems to think it is worth it to keep its credit rating high.

It's a pain though-for a while now its been embarassing as a native Tennessean to drive from Cincinnati to Nashville and get to the TN state line and have to go back to 4 lanes.

By the way (from one Queen City resident to another Queen City resident) you should really take a trip up 65 north (if you haven't already) and check out some of Louisville's great urban neighborhoods.

[MLBrumby]

Yes, I-65 is being widened all the way to the KY line. 

[BnaBreaker]

6 hours ago, bnacincy said:

Tennessee is always playing catch up to its neighbors wrt road construction but the State seems to think it is worth it to keep its credit rating high.

It's a pain though-for a while now its been embarassing as a native Tennessean to drive from Cincinnati to Nashville and get to the TN state line and have to go back to 4 lanes.

By the way (from one Queen City resident to another Queen City resident) you should really take a trip up 65 north (if you haven't already) and check out some of Louisville's great urban neighborhoods.

To me, what's the point of maintaining a high credit rating if you're never going to take advantage of it?  And yes, I agree... Louisville has some very impressive, and very Midwestern, urban neighborhoods.  

[markhollin]

Broadway bollards progress between 4th Ave. and 5th Ave. on south side.  An  extra curb barrier has been set here because of the new Broadway Police Precinct that will be imbedded in the Garth Brooks Friends in Low Places entertainment bar.
 

[Baronakim]

10 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

Yes, I-65 is being widened all the way to the KY line.      New comment on MLB here:  Odd UP error allows me to edit MLB's quote here.  What gives?

Edited April 23, 2023 by Baronakim

[CenterHill]

1 hour ago, markhollin said:

Broadway bollards progress between 4th Ave. and 5th Ave. on south side.  An  extra curb barrier has been set here because of the new Broadway Police Precinct that will be imbedded in the Garth Brooks Friends in Low Places entertainment bar.
 

 

Wonder how many overserved bachelorettes will stumble over those curbs 

[MLBrumby]

11 minutes ago, CenterHill said:

Wonder how many overserved bachelorettes will stumble over those curbs 

I know!  Seems ill-advised. I am too old to change, but I'm not an injury lawyer. I suppose someone in Metro government has asked the usual basic questions. 

I get that pedestrians shouldn't be stepping off the sidewalk between the corners,  but there will be passenger drop-offs there, right?  Is it not enough to have the bollards?  If not,  why have them?  Additionally, is the sidewalk sloped toward the curb? Where's the drainage?  It would seem that someone was "overthinking" security. 

[bnacincy]

I thought that higher curb was put in because the sidewalk on that side of Broadway dipped a bit so if they extended it would actually go below the street level-or maybe it was Broadway that had a slope to it-whichever way, I guess that is why they did the 'step up'.

Could be wrong though-but in any case after you've spent a night of drinking it could be an issue for the 'Woo Girls' and others.

[Bos2Nash]

2 hours ago, markhollin said:

Broadway bollards progress between 4th Ave. and 5th Ave. on south side.  An  extra curb barrier has been set here because of the new Broadway Police Precinct that will be imbedded in the Garth Brooks Friends in Low Places entertainment bar.
 

I took a walk down there last week and am so disheartened by the durability of these bollards. They are certainly better than nothing, but they are pretty bad. I saw a recently installed one in front of Margaritaville that looks like it had been hit in just the right way that the whole steel sleeve had broken away from the base plate and was loosely sitting on the post. These bollards may look decent, but they have very little strength it seems. The curb was installed here because with the slope of the roadway and the slope of the sidewalk there was a conflict for protecting the pedestrians and drainage. So rather than rebuilding the whole sidewalk (which is a much larger endeavor in this area of town), the curb was built with drainage to protect the pedestrians without a major overhaul of the road/sidewalk.

Also, this may be semantics at this point, but from what I have heard on the MNPD space in the Garth bar, it is purely an ops and traffic management center. It will not be a full blown precinct.

[PaulChinetti]

2 hours ago, Bos2Nash said:

I took a walk down there last week and am so disheartened by the durability of these bollards. They are certainly better than nothing, but they are pretty bad. I saw a recently installed one in front of Margaritaville that looks like it had been hit in just the right way that the whole steel sleeve had broken away from the base plate and was loosely sitting on the post. These bollards may look decent, but they have very little strength it seems.

Why spend the money upfront for something that can last when you can cheap out and replace them 5 times!

See the Division Street bridge bollards…

[smeagolsfree]

18 hours ago, Bos2Nash said:

I took a walk down there last week and am so disheartened by the durability of these bollards. They are certainly better than nothing, but they are pretty bad. I saw a recently installed one in front of Margaritaville that looks like it had been hit in just the right way that the whole steel sleeve had broken away from the base plate and was loosely sitting on the post. These bollards may look decent, but they have very little strength it seems. The curb was installed here because with the slope of the roadway and the slope of the sidewalk there was a conflict for protecting the pedestrians and drainage. So rather than rebuilding the whole sidewalk (which is a much larger endeavor in this area of town), the curb was built with drainage to protect the pedestrians without a major overhaul of the road/sidewalk.

Also, this may be semantics at this point, but from what I have heard on the MNPD space in the Garth bar, it is purely an ops and traffic management center. It will not be a full blown precinct.

I saw that when they put the first ones in.  "On the cheap is the Metro way" That is the new Metro slogan, and it applies to almost every facet of work that they do. Just don't even bother getting me started. 

[markhollin]

Nashville will see the same amount of entertainment transportation vehicles — with the potential for more — this year, despite efforts to limit permitting. 

The Transportation and Licensing Commission renewed the existing 87 permits for another year, and will consider approving new applications for permits at its May 11 meeting.

However, the commission did approve a motion to limit future permits to between 35 and 70 permits. The motion is subject to Metro Council approval. 

Prior to this meeting, the Nashville Department of Transportation suggested that the number of permits be reduced to 40 to alleviate traffic congestion.

“Everyone who lives and works downtown agrees: party buses are killing our downtown core,” Jim Schmitz, co-organizer of Safe Fun Nashville said in a news release. “It’s not just a concern, it’s a crisis. If we don’t start enforcing regulations now and listening to recommendations from our mayor and city leaders to crack down on these vehicles, then pretty soon no local will want to spend any time downtown.” 

Organizations, like the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp., Nashville Symphony and The Greater Hospitality Association and downtown residents spoke during the meeting, pushing for a reduction in the number of vehicles and enforcement of guidelines.

"Nobody here wants to create undo hardship for any business, but I respectfully point out that the matter before you is about right sizing the competing uses of our public realm. We are talking about distress for a few dozen businesses, but that’s competing against the distress of 16,000 downtown residents and 78,000 downtown employees, and 16,000 residents will grow to 25,000 within a few short years,” said Jeanette Barker, vice president of strategic development with Nashville Downtown Partnership, during the meeting.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/04/28/nashville-transportainment-permits-renewed-potenti.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_34&cx_artPos=6#cxrecs_s

[PaulChinetti]

Every time I’m sitting in traffic downtown it has very little to do with party vehicles. More like there being ZERO other options. 

[MontanaGuy]

14 minutes ago, PaulChinetti said:

Every time I’m sitting in traffic downtown it has very little to do with party vehicles. More like there being ZERO other options.

I agree completely.  I have no problem with them at all, they're just people out having a good time without being too loud.  My issue in living downtown are the motorcycles that intentionally make as much noise as they possibly can even at 3 or 4 AM.  I just drove home from the grocery store and made the mistake of crossing Broadway on a Friday afternoon to avoid the street repairs.  Church Street where I live is really messed up all the way to Midtown and with all of the construction and I don't think they'll be fixing it soon.  With no mass transit there really aren't any options but thankfully I don't have to drive very often or very far when I do.

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by MontanaGuy

[Luvemtall]

This is a topic that is either yes or no. If you allow 1 you have to allow all, just like any other business. There’s no limits on how many restaurants or bars , so that’s a hard pill to swallow. I will have to disagree with the pro crowd on this however. These sort of things don’t belong on the streets whatsoever. As I said before, our streets are not a circus! Keep that $@!! In the Honky Tonks , some of us don’t want to deal with the nonsense.

[PaulChinetti]

That’s a good point @Luvemtallon the businesses. And I see the other side I do. 
 

Blaming traffic on them just seems like an easy out. (Not saying you are)

[MLBrumby]

30 minutes ago, Luvemtall said:

This is a topic that is either yes or no. If you allow 1 you have to allow all, just like any other business. There’s no limits on how many restaurants or bars , so that’s a hard pill to swallow. I will have to disagree with the pro crowd on this however. These sort of things don’t belong on the streets whatsoever. As I said before, our streets are not a circus! Keep that $@!! In the Honky Tonks , some of us don’t want to deal with the nonsense.

They could have a token (medallion) system like taxis in NYC; where the limited access determines the price for a given term. 

[Luvemtall]

I don’t really blame the traffic on them, as you said , it’s a easy out. And I have no issues with the concept of the Honky Tonks, they are a vital part of the Nashville Vibe. If it’s not your cup of tea, that’s fine you don’t have to go in them. But the entertainment Vehicles, that’s different. There’s no way to get around the nonsense, even if you want to . They are everywhere right in our faces. 

[MontanaGuy]

1 hour ago, Luvemtall said:

I don’t really blame the traffic on them, as you said , it’s a easy out. And I have no issues with the concept of the Honky Tonks, they are a vital part of the Nashville Vibe. If it’s not your cup of tea, that’s fine you don’t have to go in them. But the entertainment Vehicles, that’s different. There’s no way to get around the nonsense, even if you want to . They are everywhere right in our faces. 

I really don't get what it is that upsets you so much about this activity.  The overwhelming majority of the riders on these vehicles are women based on what I've seen.  They're often with groups of their friends and it seems to me that they're just out there having fun.  Now if you want to talk about the activities that the men often engage in when they get a little wild on their trip to Nashville I think it's obvious that the more they drink the worse they behave and I'll bet that the police reports will back that up!  I've read quite a few derogatory remarks on this forum about bachelorette parties and that sort of thing and I wonder what that's all about.  I don't mean this against you, I enjoy reading many of your posts and you've made interesting and informative comments.  It's just this particular topic that confuses me.

Edited April 28, 2023 by MontanaGuy

[Luvemtall]

I definitely understand your thoughts. Without getting to personal or on a righteous rant , which I really don’t want to do. For me it comes down to public intoxication and having to openly witness it, I’ve had a few close good friends killed because of different alcohol related issues. And a family member who died at 28 from alcoholism, which I totally understand really isn’t connected to these party bus people but it’s IMO not something that should be showcased on our public streets. As I’ve mentioned before, I have no issues with anyone enjoying themselves and having a good time . But for me I believe it shouldn’t be openly and publicly displayed. I thank you for your kind words regarding my posts, I too enjoy your comments and definitely enjoy the pictures of projects around Downtown. 

2 hours ago, MontanaGuy said:

I really don't get what it is that upsets you so much about this activity.  The overwhelming majority of the riders on these vehicles are women based on what I've seen.  They're often with groups of their friends and it seems to me that they're just out there having fun.  Now if you want to talk about the activities that the men often engage in when they get a little wild on their trip to Nashville I think it's obvious that the more they drink the worse they behave and I'll bet that the police reports will back that up!  I've read quite a few derogatory remarks on this forum about bachelorette parties and that sort of thing and I wonder what that's all about.  I don't mean this against you, I enjoy reading many of your posts and you've made interesting and informative comments.  It's just this particular topic that confuses me.

 

[markhollin]

Coverage of the official opening of the improved 12th Ave. South with bicycle lanes from The Gulch to Douglas Ave:

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/12-avenue-south-redesign-project-complete-after-a-year-of-construction

[NissanvilleTitans]

On 4/23/2023 at 3:34 AM, BnaBreaker said:

To me, what's the point of maintaining a high credit rating if you're never going to take advantage of it?  And yes, I agree... Louisville has some very impressive, and very Midwestern, urban neighborhoods.  

Totally agree. 

Tn: I have a great invisible number.

Ky: Good for you. We have great physical roads you can actually use.

It's just me and I know this, but I can't understand the thinking behind pay as you go. It seems backwards because inflation is a real thing that has always and will always happen. Prices on materials and labor will only grow. Proactive is always better than retroactive. The roads are falling behind other state's roads and it shows. It will be costlier (is that a word?) later than currently, and that's a fact!

[MLBrumby]

12 minutes ago, NissanvilleTitans said:

Totally agree. 

Tn: I have a great invisible number.

Ky: Good for you. We have great physical roads you can actually use.

It's just me and I know this, but I can't understand the thinking behind pay as you go. It seems backwards because inflation is a real thing that has always and will always happen. Prices on materials and labor will only grow. Proactive is always better than retroactive. The roads are falling behind other state's roads and it shows. It will be costlier (is that a word?) later than currently, and that's a fact!

It is extremely backward and bad busines, but I think it appeals to many in bumpkin legislators' districts. Speaking of inflation, TDOT could have borrowed millions at very low interest over the past decade and half. That's in the past.