Rebuilding Second Avenue

[smeagolsfree]

At the request of someone I thought this was a good idea to shift the discussion of the bombing to the rebuilding of Second Ave.

I am sure this is going to be a long term major undertaking. 

[satalac]

I think it's time to shut down this section of Second Ave to vehicles and go pedestrian only. 

[LA_TN]

2 years? Or is that too hopeful? With insurance claims, etc, expect 3 years 

[smeagolsfree]

I think some of it depends on a disater declaration from Washington. Who knows if that will happen. I do think a lot of private money will come in play as well as State money.

I don't think two years is out of line.

[titanhog]

So…how many structures are going to have to completely be torn down?  That’s the part that’s going to put a lump in my throat.

[GreenvilleSucks]

Wow: 

 

[downtownresident]

1 minute ago, titanhog said:

So…how many structures are going to have to completely be torn down?  That’s the part that’s going to put a lump in my throat.

Minimum of 2 I’d say, based on pictures. Disclaimer, I am not a structural engineer. 

Edited December 28, 2020 by downtownresident

[titanhog]

Hopefully they save as much brick and other ‘old’ materials as they can scavenge…but in the end, I’m sure there are companies with tons of restoration materials to bring the place back to its original glory.

[Nash_12South]

I’d hope some level of improvement will happen to the AT&T side of Second. Perhaps a minimal sidewalk is left with terraced landscaping against the building to provide added protection. Maybe a better effort to create fake storefronts at street level, though that is not my first choice. I’d like the facility moved and the site redeveloped. I just don’t think it will happen. 

[markhollin]

At least 41 businesses were damaged in the bombing.  Here's the list of who has reported so far:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2020/12/26/nashville-explosion-which-downtown-businesses-were-damaged-christmas/4050872001/

[smeagolsfree]

This was mentioned on the Bits & Pieces thread and I tend to agree that this may be the end of vehicular traffic on 2nd Ave. as part of the reinvention process. I can see this area as a new park/plaza. The real problem is if you close traffic off how do you reroute traffic from Commerce.

 Do you extend the plaza to part of Commerce too and force traffic to turn right of left onto Third. I will say that business owners will be dead set against this idea, but it may be necessary because of AT&T..

[markhollin]

Damage looking along the First Ave. North side.  Photos courtesy of The Tennessean:

 

[downtownresident]

The business owners on the east side of 2nd can use 1st Ave for loading. On the west side there is an alleyway that runs the length of it. If they must keep vehicle traffic, I would be in favor of removing parking, reducing the number of thru lanes, and extending the sidewalks out. 

[Rockatansky]

I'd like to see AT&T commit to moving the switching station to a more secure site (or sites).

[MontanaGuy]

38 minutes ago, Rockatansky said:

I'd like to see AT&T commit to moving the switching station to a more secure site (or sites).

I can understand why people might want to see that happen but the expense would be extremely high.  I spent my career in the phone company and there's a main central office similar to this in every major city.  Back in the 70's when I first started those buildings were packed full of equipment that was modern for those days but as technology developed the newer equipment became smaller and much more powerful and that trend continued until today.  Now much of the interior of most of them is either vacant or is being used for other purposes.  However it would still be a massive undertaking to reroute the cables and everything that's feeding into that building and create a new infrastructure to move all of it to alternate locations.  You'd really have to address the issue of what you'd be gaining by doing such a thing.  The building has already been fortified which is why it's still standing even though the blast happened right next to it.  There's a lot of issues that need to looked at. 

[NashRugger]

5 hours ago, MontanaGuy said:

I can understand why people might want to see that happen but the expense would be extremely high.  I spent my career in the phone company and there's a main central office similar to this in every major city.  Back in the 70's when I first started those buildings were packed full of equipment that was modern for those days but as technology developed the newer equipment became smaller and much more powerful and that trend continued until today.  Now much of the interior of most of them is either vacant or is being used for other purposes.  However it would still be a massive undertaking to reroute the cables and everything that's feeding into that building and create a new infrastructure to move all of it to alternate locations.  You'd really have to address the issue of what you'd be gaining by doing such a thing.  The building has already been fortified which is why it's still standing even though the blast happened right next to it.  There's a lot of issues that need to looked at. 

This exactly. The cost of moving this facility & all the associated lines, routers/servers, etc. would cost hundreds of millions, at minimum. 

[smeagolsfree]

These facilities dot the downtowns of many cities across the country and if they started doing one then they would probably have to do all. Very expensive proposition.

Left over from the old Bell South Days.

[Sean blackdog]

New video from MNPD. 
Nashville bombing. 

 

[LA_TN]

Status update from AT&T today:

AT&T is waiving domestic, long-distance voice, and data overage charges through the holiday season for affected customers in 1166 zip codes across states like Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama, Georgia, Illinois and Missouri from December 25 to January 1

In general, it sounds like all structural damage is repairable. It's just going to take time. Lots of equipment and manpower is on-site or standby in case anything happens

 

**to answer an earlier question regarding timeline: services went offline when the batteries were drained after the generators stopped. After the explosion, the commercial power feeds to the building were damaged and went offline. This is an immediate fail over condition to battery (yes, for all equipment in the building). The generators will take <1 minute to come online and provide power.  The generators went offline after the natural gas was cut off, then the batteries were drained, and then everything lost power

In addition, the cooling plant was completely destroyed and with fire sprinklers, etc filling the building with water, fire is guaranteed - not "if", but "when" will it catch fire

Although service stayed online for a while, the Titanic had hit an iceburg

[MLBrumby]

Wow!! Old whats-his-name was going to be sure ATT never forgot him. 

[markhollin]

AT&T restores 'nearly all services' impacted by the Nashville blast:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/12/29/att-restores-nashville-service.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_34&cx_artPos=1#cxrecs_s

[markhollin]

Pictorial history of 2nd Ave. North at The Tennessean:

https://www.tennessean.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2020/12/28/second-avenue-nashville-photos-history-christmas-day-bombing/4061387001/

[smeagolsfree]

From Demetria Kalodimos twitter page

(20) demetria kalodimos on Twitter: "Market Street (AKA 2nd avenue) looking north from Broadway 1897. Praying we can save as many structures as possible. Assessment tomorrow. https://t.co/UWmThQYqNv" / Twitter

[jmtunafish]

15 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

These facilities dot the downtowns of many cities across the country and if they started doing one then they would probably have to do all. Very expensive proposition.

Left over from the old Bell South Days.

And even some small cities have them.  There's a large such building in downtown Cookeville left over from when GTE had its state HQ in Cookeville.  BellSouth serviced most of the state, and GTE serviced many smaller towns (Cookeville, McMinnville, Dyersburg, a few others).  I have no idea what's in the building now but I assume it's still got some telecommunications equipment in there.  Verizon bought most of GTE, but the Tennessee exchanges were bought by a really crappy phone company called Frontier Communications which is based in Connecticut.  Anyway, the windowless building still looms over downtown Cookeville today.

Edited December 29, 2020 by jmtunafish

[thenorthchannel]

Bob Mendes shared via twitter: