Bicentennial Mall & Riverfront Greenway

[bzorch]

With the great weather today, I refused to go indoors. I walked the Riverfront Greenway and visited Bicentennial Mall. The Bicentennial Mall is such an underutilized asset. I wish more residential was around it. Riverfront Greenway could use some activity along it as well. With all of the State Office nearby, I am curious if the greenway is used more.

Not sure which development this is, but you can see it from the greenway.

[Onyte9]

I love the bicentennial mall I think its one of the great assets of our city. I do believe that once some of our bigger residential projects are complete the green spaces and parks in and around down town will start to fill up. It will all happen in time. This is a great city, a truely great place to live.

[Nashvillain]

After the meet, Dave, Hank, and I went on some further touring and exploring. To contrast, Centennial Park was packed. People in this city do use the parks, but for now, not enough people live around downtown I guess. I walked through the War Memorial Plaza on the way back to my car and there was a group of people skating and hanging out. That is one impressive space.

Here is a link to an earlier thread about those townhomes, Bzorch.

UrbanPlanet

[bzorch]

Centennial Park was packed. There had to have been a picnicker every 100ft and a lot of those people drove. You would think North Nashville would flock to Bicentennial Mall, but I guess traditionally that has been Hadley Park. Hopefully, someday BM will be more appreciated. I remember there were some discussion in one of the papers last year or so that said the amphitheater sits empty most of the time. I am not sure how many people realize it is there. Though I have to say, once the fountains are on, the place does pick up, but no one really uses the other spaces. Do you know anyone who goes to listen to the Carillons?

Though from the Nashville Scene article a couple weeks ago, it sounds like the Farmers Market will be renovated which will not hurt.

[Nashvillain]

What the hell is a carillon?

[bzorch]

The large collection of Bell Towers in the last few photos of BM. There is a booth nearby where a person can play the bells. You can see it to the bottom right of the last photo. They are suppose to play music every half hour. I believe Rocky Top and some other Tennessee related music. Here a description from the State Park's website:

Carillons and the Court of 3 Stars

The Court of 3 Stars is a focal point of the park located at the northern end near Jefferson Street. Made of red, white and blue granite, this area represents the three grand divisions of the state - East, Middle and West Tennessee. This is also the site of a 95-bell carillon representing Tennessee's musical heritage. The 95 bells represent the citizens of Tennessee's 95 counties. A 96th bell, known as the answer bell, is located on the grounds of the State Capitol and rings in answer to the 95 bells, symbolizing government answering to the people. The carillons are the largest in the world.

[Nashvillain]

Ah. Ask a simple question, get a great answer.

[smeagolsfree]

I walk the river walk around from 1st to the bicentennial mall a lot and you are correct that it is very under utilized. I would encourage anyone that has not been there to go and check it out. The park has incorporated the areas history into it and is like a walking history lesson.

This will be a great area once the north Nashville area starts to take off. There are also plans for the State library and Archive as well as the Tennessee State Museum that is currently under T-PAC, to be built there. I asked one of the employees at the Museum the other day if the State has any immediate plans to get the ball rolling, and to their knowledge there has not. It would be round a 200 million dollar project to build both building there I think. The State has not budgeted for it. That would bring a lot more people to the area.

[eusebius]

I love the Nashville Greenways, and the DT one is a nice addition. I included it in my 18-mile run Sat morning (also ran Shelby Bottoms and Richland Creek). Looking forward to the eventual completion of them all. What a great addition to the city. I wish there was a clever way to connect them all... Which brings me to a related issue.

I stumbled on the Midtown Community plan update on metro's site (http://www.nashville.gov/mpc/subarea10.htm), which includes a recommendation for a greenway along 1-440 from West End to 12th/Granny White. If implemented, this would get tons of use, I am sure. Anyone know of plans for it?

[smeagolsfree]

I love the Nashville Green-ways, and the DT one is a nice addition. I included it in my 18-mile run Sat morning (also ran Shelby Bottoms and Richland Creek). Looking forward to the eventual completion of them all. What a great addition to the city. I wish there was a clever way to connect them all... Which brings me to a related issue.

I think that is in the master plan for the Green-ways. You would be able to stay on one green way from Bellevue all the way to Murfreesboro eventually. I think I saw that in a long range plan somewhere. They are currently working on a bridge across the Cumberland to connect Shelby Bottoms and Two Rivers Green-way.

[downtown cliff]

I think that is in the master plan for the Green-ways. You would be able to stay on one green way from Bellevue all the way to Murfreesboro eventually. I think I saw that in a long range plan somewhere. They are currently working on a bridge across the Cumberland to connect Shelby Bottoms and Two Rivers Green-way.

Have they actually started work on that bridge?

[it's just dave]

Not yet, Cliff. There was a headline in the nashvillepost last week stating that a "hitch" had developed, but of course, my free trial subscription ran out, so I couldn't get details. Hopefully, it won't be long. The ramps at Two Rivers Parkway have just recently closed for construction of the southbound bridges which is where the bridge from Shelby Bottoms will connect to the tunnel under Briley. I guessing road construction schedules have something to do with it. This will be one cool connector for the downtown to Priest Lake.

[downtown cliff]

Not yet, Cliff. There was a headline in the nashvillepost last week stating that a "hitch" had developed, but of course, my free trial subscription ran out, so I couldn't get details. Hopefully, it won't be long. The ramps at Two Rivers Parkway have just recently closed for construction of the southbound bridges which is where the bridge from Shelby Bottoms will connect to the tunnel under Briley. I guessing road construction schedules have something to do with it. This will be one cool connector for the downtown to Priest Lake.

Indeed. I'm looking forward to riding my bike from my doorstep to Percy Priest.

[Hankster]

Bicentennial Park truly is a wonderful park, but it really is underutilized at present. I was with Nashvillian Saturday at Centennial Park, and he's right. The park was packed to the gills! I envision a day, hopefully, not too far out in the future when Bicentennial will be equally packed and ringed by vibrant neighborhoods. What a beautiful sight that would be! One thing that I think would add a lot to Bicentennial park, is a large lake similar to the one in Centennial park. People just love the water.

[barakat]

Bicentennial Mall was intended to have a larger water feature, which was nixed for the budget. The possibility exists that it could be added at a later time, like the carillon. I have a copy of the book "A Long Road", which chronicles the conception and construction of Bicentennial Mall. The architects are pretty clear that they want it to be added at some point. The feature is a 'river' which is visible in this rendering on the cover of the book; it originates in the park's symbolic 'mountains' at the NE corner, and appears as a serpentine shape curving southward through the eastern edge of the lawns. Granted, it isn't a lake, but it could be an attractive feature. I think a huge reflecting pool in one of the lawns would have been awesome.

http://tuck-hinton.com/Path.htm

Bicentennial Park truly is a wonderful park, but it really is underutilized at present. I was with Nashvillian Saturday at Centennial Park, and he's right. The park was packed to the gills! I envision a day, hopefully, not too far out in the future when Bicentennial will be equally packed and ringed by vibrant neighborhoods. What a beautiful sight that would be! One thing that I think would add a lot to Bicentennial park, is a large lake similar to the one in Centennial park. People just love the water.

[nashvillwill]

Do you know anyone who goes to listen to the Carillons?

The carillons are possibly my favorite thing about the mall. However, the state they have been allowed to degrade to is quite sad. The timing is off on the songs and many of the bells are out of tune, which makes the sound quite terrible and almost annoying. I guess its typical of the state to ignore something like this after its built, but its still quite sad to let such a treasure fall to such a sad condition.

[downtown cliff]

How about we help utilize the Bicentennial Mall? For our June meeting we could meet at Provence, get some food to go, and walk over to the amphitheatre at the mall for our meeting.

[downtown cliff]

Hot off of the rumor mill:

The state is planning on relocating its communications center, located next to the Bicentennial Mall. The director of the state museum has her eyes on the building as a new location. No time frame. No idea on whether they would build anew on the spot or attempt to enhance the current building. I will try and get a photo to the building later today.

Also, the state is considering building a new garage somewhere north of the trestle for employee parking. Presumably, this could be used by patrons of the museum or other new attractions after hours.

[Justiceham]

Mmm...the thought of walking from Murfreesboro to Nashville without being a distrubance to the roadways.

[smeagolsfree]

Hot off of the rumor mill:

The state is planning on relocating its communications center, located next to the Bicentennial Mall. The director of the state museum has her eyes on the building as a new location. No time frame. No idea on whether they would build anew on the spot or attempt to enhance the current building. I will try and get a photo to the building later today.

Also, the state is considering building a new garage somewhere north of the trestle for employee parking. Presumably, this could be used by patrons of the museum or other new attractions after hours.

This is great news. I will be glad to see more things happening on that end of town. The downtown area is about to get a whole lot bigger as the Gulch, Bicentennial mall area and Midtown, plus SoBro grow together with a lot of infill.

[Hankster]

Bicentennial Mall was intended to have a larger water feature, which was nixed for the budget. The possibility exists that it could be added at a later time, like the carillon. I have a copy of the book "A Long Road", which chronicles the conception and construction of Bicentennial Mall. The architects are pretty clear that they want it to be added at some point. The feature is a 'river' which is visible in this rendering on the cover of the book; it originates in the park's symbolic 'mountains' at the NE corner, and appears as a serpentine shape curving southward through the eastern edge of the lawns. Granted, it isn't a lake, but it could be an attractive feature. I think a huge reflecting pool in one of the lawns would have been awesome.

I really do hope that a water feature could be added in the near future. That might be just the thing to make the park a much more popular destination. And the carillons must be maintained. The city must not let its parks go neglected. They are so important to the people.