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USAToday article re Nashville and removal of downtown Interstates


HopeGardensGuy

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Wondering if anyone else read this USAToday article about Oklahama City wanting to get rid of some of the inner-city interstate roads? As I was reading it, I somewhat chuckled to myself, wondering what would happen if Nashville were to try something like this? Well, surprise the heck out of me - a couple of paragraphs later, it says this!

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I would call it a nightmare; that should read,"It's part of the Plan of Nashville... it's more or less a nightmare." Until the days of flying cars come, y'all will need the Interstate loop. The only thing that y'all should gripe about with the loop is that not having about six lanes for each direction on it.
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Others people's experience may very, but apparently traffic flow isn't the nightmare people thought it would be in Knoxville with the closure of 40 through downtown. At least the feedback getting back to TDOT has been positive and 640 has been handling the flow fairly well. The thinking is Knoxville's example might mean it's possible in Nashville. But that's still hard for me to imagine Nashville without 24 around the east side of downtown. They'll have to do so major work to the south and west loops to fix traffic flow.

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I've often wondered why Briley Parkway on the north side of Nashville couldn't be positioned as Interstate 640? Now that it's been pretty well upgraded, and at least 4 lanes everywhere, more around Opryland, doesn't it seem as though it could fit the bill?

It doesn't seem that the signage really does an adequate job diverting drivers around town, whether coming from the east or west side of town on 40, and intending to head out 65N or 24W, or folks coming in from 65 southbound or 24 eastbound, intending to head to Memphis or Knoxville.

Just a thought...

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Take out the inner loop. Let traffic be a congested nightmare. Maybe only then, would people force themselves to take carpools and buses. Maybe then, Nashville will actually commit to a public transit system. Maybe then, suburban sprawl can be contained.

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the plan of nashville wasn't just rip up the loop and let nashville fend for themselves. it included different transit options. i am a big supporter of the plan. i'd love to gain back the neighborhoods that were lost to the interstates. just think, with the people moving back into the central city, the need for long commutes downtown would be minimized through mass transit. we need to be more open to new ideas cause we sure ain't doing it with the existing system. build all the roads you want, they'll just fill up. make people not rely on roads as much, and the problem shrinks.

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I personally love the plan. It makes much more sense than building a massive island. However, that brings up my thought for either scenario. Say we remove the I-24/40 east connector(or build a huge island) and build a beautiful boulevard. What good does this do if Bud Adams is unwilling(and he will be) to relinquish any of the acres of surface parking he has control of. Sure, he's willing to allow the city to pay to make it a beautiful parking lot(with the rubber mats/grass and such) but he would never give it up to be developed. Because he cant sell the property, and the city cant just take control until the lease is over. However(i might be wrong), i think that lease is up in 15 years.

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