The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread

[nashvylle]

10 hours ago, nashville_bound said:

Another example of disruptive transportation that is here NOW.....

Local Motors to produce Olli self-driving vehicle in Knoxville

 

The Olli, which Local Motors unveiled at its Maryland facility in June, resembles a small van or minibus and can carry up to 12 people. It is electrically powered and designed to be operated as part of a fleet.

"We see cities purchasing Olli to fill gaps in their existing transportation systems," Keidel said. "Universities may purchase them to transport students safely across campus."

Large companies might use them to transport people across a campus or even amusement parks might use them to shuttle people to and from their cars, she said.

For now, Olli is in use on public roads in Washington, D.C., and is slated for use in Miami-Dade County, Fla. and in Las Vegas later this year.

I see Olli as helping current mass transit technology, not disrupting it (or replacing it as you seem to imply)

 

 

[PruneTracy]

Tennessee (mostly TDOT) could lose $60 million in federal funding due to the state's new underage DUI law.

[markhollin]

Video of the recent "Tennessean's Future of Transit Forum" from the Downtown Library.  1 hour and 37 minutes.

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2016/08/31/watch-live-tennesseans-future-transit-forum/89674816/

[markhollin]

If a $6 billion transit system is built, will Middle Tennesseans ride?

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2016/09/03/if-6-billion-transit-system-built-middle-tennesseans-ride/89428642/
 

[jmtunafish]

1 hour ago, markhollin said:

If a $6 billion transit system is built, will Middle Tennesseans ride?

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2016/09/03/if-6-billion-transit-system-built-middle-tennesseans-ride/89428642/
 

I wish the article used Salt Lake instead of Denver as its example of a city Nashville could emulate.  Nashville is much more similar to SLC than it is to Denver.  SLC and Nashville are about the same size, both are blue cities surrounded by red suburbs in very red states, both have thriving downtowns where people actually want to live and play, and both have universities just outside of downtown and airports just a few miles from downtown.  Now SLC has 50 light rail stations on 45 miles of tracks on three lines throughout Salt Lake County and nearly 20 million riders annually. It covers neighborhoods as well as malls, the airport, the University of Utah, hospitals, SLC's AAA ballpark, its MLS stadium, its NBA arena, the state fairgrounds, and of course downtown SLC.  At any rate, I'm glad that there are important people who are pushing for a real transportation network in Nashville.  If Nashvillians could see how a successful light rail network like SLC's works, I think they'd be all for it.

Edited September 4, 2016 by jmtunafish

[Dale]

Question: which cities aren't blue ?

[Hey_Hey]

7 hours ago, Dale said:

Question: which cities aren't blue ?

Not many.  Interestingly, though, Salt Lake City is one. Salt Lake County voted for Romney over Obama essentially 60-40. Phoenix, Fort Worth, and Oklahoma City were the other major US cities that voted that way. 

[jmtunafish]

3 hours ago, Hey_Hey said:

Not many.  Interestingly, though, Salt Lake City is one. Salt Lake County voted for Romney over Obama essentially 60-40. Phoenix, Fort Worth, and Oklahoma City were the other major US cities that voted that way. 

Actually, SLC is very blue, but Salt Lake County is red.  SLC has a population of less than 200,000 while Salt Lake County has a population of 1.1 million.  Either way, the rest of the county embraced light rail once they saw how successful it was in the city.

[Hey_Hey]

17 hours ago, jmtunafish said:

Actually, SLC is very blue, but Salt Lake County is red.  SLC has a population of less than 200,000 while Salt Lake County has a population of 1.1 million.  Either way, the rest of the county embraced light rail once they saw how successful it was in the city.

You are correct. I was looking at county data.  It is clear, though, that a "red" area embraced mass transit. There's no way that a relatively small "blue" city financed the mass transit system that they have built, meaning that there have been plenty of "red" areas that have been willing to pony up and contribute.

As a "purple" kind of person, I see mass transit as a non-partisan issue, although people have clearly approached it that way. It also proves that, especially in Nashville, "blue" political forces need to reach out to the "red" political forces to get this done in a regional manner.  

[UTgrad09]

7 hours ago, Hey_Hey said:

As a "purple" kind of person, I see mass transit as a non-partisan issue, although people have clearly approached it that way. It also proves that, especially in Nashville, "blue" political forces need to reach out to the "red" political forces to get this done in a regional manner.  

So much this. 

I think a lot of the leaders are on board. The problem, as I see it, is from outside sources (i.e. the state level politicians and special interest groups). 

I'm not one of those big government guys, but I am big on infrastructure. I think it benefits everyone in the metro (regardless of if they use it directly). It's good for commerce.

[rookzie]

This pretty much resonates my personal frustration and patience-exhausting sentiment for over 3 calendar decades.
__________________

From the Nashville Scene Sep. 01, 2016

Metro Councilman Freddie O’Connell, representing North Nashville and downtown

“I absolutely support planning processes and I like them to be living processes. The problem is if we just keep saying, ‘well, we’re going to refresh, refresh, refresh’ and we never actually do anything while that living process is going on, it’s a great excuse to do nothing and I think that’s been the issue….”

“… we have not had a lot of transparency to the way we do infrastructure planning. [strides perhaps, but far from clear disclosure]

“…it’s really been the frustration of realizing how far behind we are. That’s cause for optimism in the sense that hopefully some of the frustration provides some of the urgency. But I had my first constituent let me know he’s leaving the Gulch area because the downtown congestion has just completely paralyzed the process of mobility for him. That’s hard for me because I’m trying daily to look for solutions here but I need the people in charge of creating and maintaining our built environment to be working as hard as I am to try to find solutions. I worry that the pace of our growth has not yet led enough people to think ‘how can we do this’ instead of ‘why we can’t do this.’…

________________
SCENE article here:
http://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pith-in-the-wind/article/20832465/transit

__________________

I don't necessarily concur with every detail quoted, primarily since I am not in position to have held such a vantage point.  But I do believe that decades of arguably self-serving tenures of administrations have failed lamentably to on-board and to foster constituency in concert for even rudimentary steps in addressing predictable and foreseeable issues of the mobility infrastructure.

Edited September 8, 2016 by rookzie

[Nashtitans]

lol oh man... Nashville is decades behind in this aspect. People like this are holding the city back. Time to stop talking and put shovel in the ground..

[rookzie]

17 minutes ago, Nashtitans said:

lol oh man... Nashville is decades behind in this aspect. People like this are holding the city back. Time to stop talking and put shovel in the ground..

..I wouldn't exactly say that O'Connell is holding the city back.  That is not even close to what he's saying here.  Quite the contrary.

[RonCamp]

14 hours ago, rookzie said:

But I had my first constituent let me know he’s leaving the Gulch area because the downtown congestion has just completely paralyzed the process of mobility for him.

Perhaps this constituent is not aware that walking and biking are options for downtown mobility as well.

I'd also like to get this constituent's take in two years after he has moved elsewhere and his time in the car has subsequently [increased 25%, doubled, whatever].

Edited September 8, 2016 by RonCamp
Edited to correct the constituent's gender

[rookzie]

1 hour ago, RonCamp said:

Perhaps this constituent is not aware that walking and biking are options for downtown mobility as well.

I'd also like to get this constituent's take in two years after he has moved elsewhere and his time in the car has subsequently [increased 25%, doubled, whatever].

In all fairness, we just don't know whether or not this "constituent" has chosen Gulch living while working in, say another part of the city-county (Metro).  There are some who do just that.  Just saying...

[RonCamp]

11 minutes ago, rookzie said:

In all fairness, we just don't know whether or not this "constituent" has chosen Gulch living while working in, say another part of the city-county (Metro).  There are some who do just that.  Just saying...

Fair point - I appreciate your comment.

[hido]

I have not read through this entire thread so I apologize if these temporary solutions have already been brought up:

- synchronize all traffic lights (I believe this is underway?)

- 4 lanes in 4 lanes out on 6 lane streets

- get rid of street parking on streets like West End

- do not allow private building construction to close lanes on major arteries (e.g. Demonbreun between 12th and 3rd)

- get the d*mn Pedal Taverns/Golf Carts/Horse buggies/Tractors off main thoroughfares (e.g. Pedal Taverns on West End. Really?)

- do not allow dumb things like the Bridgestone Tower ingress/egress to be on essentially an alley (Molloy/Almond). I could be wrong on this but that's what it looks like based on the location of the ramps

- do not allow events to close main arteries (e.g. closing Demonbreun between 4th and 5th for private events at the CMHOF)

I'd love to see all of this done immediately. It won't solve much, but it's a start.

 

[Hey_Hey]

17 hours ago, RonCamp said:

Perhaps this constituent is not aware that walking and biking are options for downtown mobility as well.

I'd also like to get this constituent's take in two years after he has moved elsewhere and his time in the car has subsequently [increased 25%, doubled, whatever].

The problem right now is that, in many ways, the Gulch is not walkable for much of what we do in life.  It may be controversial to say, but the Tapestry apartment residents in Brentwood can likely live car free more easily than a resident of TwelveTwelve. If I live in the Gulch and I need to buy groceries, I have to drive to the Kroger in Germantown, on 21st Ave, or on 8th Ave (I love the Turnip Truck, but it does not replace a full grocery store). If I need a prescription filled, last minute wrapping paper, or notebooks and folders for school then I'm driving to the CVS on 21st Ave. If I need a new Polo shirt for a date then I'm driving to White Bridge Rd or 100 Oaks to go to a TJ Maxx or Kohls. Meanwhile, a Tapestry resident can walk to any of those places to buy those needed products.  Tapestry residents may not be within walking distance of the latest trendy restaurant, but when it comes to the mundane tasks that take up the majority of our time then it has the Gulch beat. 

That's significant because if Gulch residents are having to drive routinely for all of those things then traffic gridlock can be absolutely maddening. It is not uncommon for the drive from the Gulch to the 21st Ave Kroger to take 15-20 minutes. For being only a couple miles away that has to be frustrating.

[RonCamp]

3 hours ago, Hey_Hey said:

The problem right now is that, in many ways, the Gulch is not walkable for much of what we do in life.  It may be controversial to say, but the Tapestry apartment residents in Brentwood can likely live car free more easily than a resident of TwelveTwelve. If I live in the Gulch and I need to buy groceries, I have to drive to the Kroger in Germantown, on 21st Ave, or on 8th Ave (I love the Turnip Truck, but it does not replace a full grocery store). If I need a prescription filled, last minute wrapping paper, or notebooks and folders for school then I'm driving to the CVS on 21st Ave. If I need a new Polo shirt for a date then I'm driving to White Bridge Rd or 100 Oaks to go to a TJ Maxx or Kohls. Meanwhile, a Tapestry resident can walk to any of those places to buy those needed products.  Tapestry residents may not be within walking distance of the latest trendy restaurant, but when it comes to the mundane tasks that take up the majority of our time then it has the Gulch beat. 

That's significant because if Gulch residents are having to drive routinely for all of those things then traffic gridlock can be absolutely maddening. It is not uncommon for the drive from the Gulch to the 21st Ave Kroger to take 15-20 minutes. For being only a couple miles away that has to be frustrating.

I live in the Gulch, so I get it, and I totally agree with you.  We need a real drugstore and a real grocery store immediately.  The H&M that's coming to 5th and Broad, if it happens, and the Whole Foods, will also both be a great step in the right direction for all downtown residents.    

In some ways it's a chicken and egg problem.  We won't get downtown (non-bar and restaurant) retail until we have the residential density to support it, but we won't get the residential density to support it without having the retail in place.   

[markhollin]

Survey from a Green Hills group to address the massive traffic woes there:

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2016/09/07/green-hills-traffic-the-worst-this-group-needs.html

[nashbill]

I was in Charlotte this past weekend.  First time in 6 or 7 years that I had some time to explore the city I moved away from in 2004.  When I left the Blue Line LRT had a small portion complete.  Maybe a mile or 2.  It is now complete to Pineville, about 10 miles south of the city.  The area around the line has exploded in growth. It connects the Hornets arena and it goes through the Convention Center.  Odd that the station is outside the convention center.  I recognized very little.  It is all so new.  The line is now heading north to UNCC about another 10 to 15 miles from the center city.  Again amazed at the progress they have made and the visual you get where the line itself flies over a very busy intersection near the college.  I don't know the time line for opening, but they are building like crazy.  They have a lot to do to reach out to other areas but I do believe the plans are there and doesn't necessarily use just LRT.  Trollies and rail are part of the plans.

I consider Nashville and Charlotte about even in growth.  As far as I can tell Nashville is so far behind the 8 ball on transit.  Is there a real plan?  Are we doing anything, like planning or buying up property?  I don't generally get interested in it because it usually never would impact me.  I am sure the answer is here in this thread, but I am to lazy to read through all of this.  Sorry.  Visually, I don't see anything happening here and Charlotte is barreling ahead.  The $$$ spent putting in that line has payed back in spades with the amount of growth it sparked along the way.  I suspect it will do the same for the northern leg.

Wake up Nashville, we need this.  I am not trying to start some Charlotte vs Nashville argument.  It's just these are 2 cities I am pretty familiar with.

Edited September 15, 2016 by nashbill
corrected some milage numbers

[markhollin]

A new study on walkable urban development in the country's 30 largest metro areas:

http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/nashville-post-magazine/article/20833792/walkable-urban-development-has-returned

[MLBrumby]

I tried to read the blurb on the site and must confess that I struggled to understand it. I assumed much of the wording was taken from the study's publication, but it caused me to wonder if maybe these urban studies researchers don't sometimes hurt their cause by using overwrought language. As an "enthusiast", I would be the target audience. 

[BnaBreaker]

5 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

I tried to read the blurb on the site and must confess that I struggled to understand it. I assumed much of the wording was taken from the study's publication, but it caused me to wonder if maybe these urban studies researchers don't sometimes hurt their cause by using overwrought language. As an "enthusiast", I would be the target audience. 

I was curious to read more, but their link to the "study" at the bottom just links back to that same article.  lol

[markhollin]

TDOT Commissioner: Sustainable funding is the areas only solution to traffic problem...

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2016/09/15/tdot-commissionersustainable-funding-is-the-areas.html