Nashville Bits and Pieces

[mirydi]

Right. So when there is no turn to be made, such as on a bridge, what is the point then?

So cars making a turn at the end of the bridge don't have to sit and block traffic that's not turning I would assume.

 

Church Street bridge is a mess and backed up a lot of times, especially in the morning time. I could only imagine how much worse it would be if there wasn't a turning lane for people making a left turn onto 14th Ave or people making a left onto George L. Davis Blvd.

Edited July 31, 2014 by mirydi

[CenterHill]

I was the one who mentioned seeing the Church St striping the other day.  

 

Although the center turn lane seems unneeded, the Demonbreun bridge regularly backs up from 12th back to Cummins Station.     For people turning left onto 12th, the center turn lane lets you avoid sitting in the long line of people continuing on Demonbreun.   There is a safe speed and there is an unsafe speed to this, of course.     Plus with the Gulch Crossing, there will be more traffic using the center turn lane to enter GC.      Same with the Church St. bridge and access to NES and whatever gets developed in the costume supply building. 

[UTgrad09]

They do need to take out a lane on each side. But no turn lane. That's where (in my dreams) the streetcar will go that travels from Centennial Park to Riverfront Park.

[smeagolsfree]

NPR to feature East Nashville studio, "The Bomb Shelter"

 

From the NBJ

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2014/08/move-over-music-row-npr-profiles-east-nashville.html

[smeagolsfree]

Ace Hotels response to a Nashville location. From the Post.

 

http://nashvillepost.com/blogs/postbusiness/2014/7/31/could_ace_hotel_be_nashville_bound

[Vrtigo]

I would love to spend all day arguing about the perceived necessity of turn lanes and their real drawbacks, but I guess my point is this. For this particular spot, Church Street Bridge, there is not a need for one. I would much rather see that 8' of space moved to the edges. Move the lanes towards center. Added an extra foot to each sidewalk, and build a 3' planted buffer on each side between sidewalk and road. Hell, add free parking spaces if you want. People in this town love to complain about the lack of parking. Ultimately, I just think the space could be better used for pedestrian friendliness than 8' of useless space in the center of a bridge.

 

I would absolutely love to see this space be used for a High Line-type urban garden/park or the dedicated transit lane mentioned above, I will say that the turn lane at least makes more sense here than the equivalent on Demonbreun. I had completely forgotten about the nondescript career college across from the Y:

 

 

Who knows what the heck this is:

 

 

And of course, the aforementioned Gibson, ex-Performance Studios and the inveterate NES:

 

 

I can't say I've ever sat in traffic for more than a few moments on this part of Church Street, so I'm finding any traffic-calming efforts difficult to complain about. My bike will appreciate the love as well.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Vrtigo

[chelovek]

They should use the turn lanes on both viaducts as flex lanes like on hermitage avenue. The extra capacity would be useful during rush hours and special events.

 

I'm glad we'll finally have some space for bikes here. I also hope that fewer lanes will slow down drivers coming off of the interstate into downtown. As currently configured, church is a speed funnel. The lack of transition from four lane highway to two lane street with lots of ped activity contributes to the high rate of pedestrian injuries and deaths around the 8th and Church intersection.

 

I would love to see the city put together a church st./elliston place master plan and give the road a complete streets makeover from centennial park to the river. It could easily become the city's favorite street with a small amount of public investment. Throw in some bike lanes, improved sidewalks, public art, and plantings and people would flock to all of the cool old buildings along the corridor in greater numbers than they already do.

[donNdonelson2]

I like this vision!

[MLBrumby]

I hope this Google SV shot comes out as planned.  Printers Alley at dusk.  This is such a great shot, and a reason why Printers Alley must be preserved.  If it goes the way of so many other landmarks in Nashville, then the city may as well call itself Generica... like too many other Southern cities that have sold their souls.  

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.164502,-86.778692,3a,75y,168.17h,102.46t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sjzZSsnMB-CMAAAQWffMUdg!2e0!3e11

[titanhog]

That's a great shot, ML.  Glad you found that.

 

Yes....we really need to keep that "grit," because not everything needs to be sanitized and made to look brand new in this city.

[fieldmarshaldj]

^Now if only something could be done about that garage...

[East Side Urbanite]

That's a fantastic image of the Alley.

 

WW

[HGMIII]

[CenterHill]

They should use the turn lanes on both viaducts as flex lanes like on hermitage avenue. The extra capacity would be useful during rush hours and special events.

 

I'm glad we'll finally have some space for bikes here. I also hope that fewer lanes will slow down drivers coming off of the interstate into downtown. As currently configured, church is a speed funnel. The lack of transition from four lane highway to two lane street with lots of ped activity contributes to the high rate of pedestrian injuries and deaths around the 8th and Church intersection.

 

I would love to see the city put together a church st./elliston place master plan and give the road a complete streets makeover from centennial park to the river. It could easily become the city's favorite street with a small amount of public investment. Throw in some bike lanes, improved sidewalks, public art, and plantings and people would flock to all of the cool old buildings along the corridor in greater numbers than they already do.

Striping is complete. Bike lanes added and center turn lane. For now, the bike lanes exist only on the bridge. No connecting bike lanes on Church east or west of the viaduct. Some day.

[captainwjm]

It will be interesting to see how this affects Church Street traffic.  I walk the bridge most every day.  I can see it helping the always surprisingly large volume of traffic into and out of NES, but not sure that it will make any difference to either the I-65/40 or YMCA ends

[Paramount747]

I gave Ron and WW some information about a possible hotel going up on Demonbreun Street. Construction Wire had it listed as $5-$25 million. Ron knew the location. It would be on a strip of lane near Rhythm.

 

I am sure he can dig up more details.

[smeagolsfree]

Nothing on that front. Parties have been contacted and nothing of note has been decided. I saw the same thing at that site 2 years ago and nothing yet.

 

Dont hold your breath for anything to happen there for a while.

[captainwjm]

It will be interesting to see how this affects Church Street traffic.  I walk the bridge most every day.  I can see it helping the always surprisingly large volume of traffic into and out of NES, but not sure that it will make any difference to either the I-65/40 or YMCA ends

Answering my own question, at least on the interstate end, in the afternoon, the new striping is an improvement. The change in the turn lanes on the interstate bridge makes that portion go much faster, although I foresee problems in the morning rush. the afternoon traffic backs up nearly to the Y when the light is red at the interstate, but clears before changing to red again. So, at least for outbound traffic, it works.

[TheRaglander]

I couldn't find the forum for the Amphitheater so please feel free to point me in the right direction if there is a better place to post this.

 

I can get better shots but here is the progress on the 1st ave Amphitheater.  They have been working on the stage for a while.  Much of the field grading is wrapped up on the outer elevations.

 

 

[CenterHill]

Thanks.   That angle gives you a sense of how large the stage structure is going to look with another 40' on top of the stage platform.   

[satalac]

Thanks for the elevated view! I drove by it yesterday but couldn't see much more than dirt being pushed around. 

[MLBrumby]

Just saw this in the Post; a construction cam for the new engineering annex at Vandy...  http://webcams.vanderbilt.edu/newolin/

[chris holman]

Someone from work told me about this , and I told him (yeah right) !! So I looked it up and saw articles on it. I thought I would share.

It would be the coolest thing if this happens http://nashvillegeeklife.com/2014/04/nashville-landmark-selected-for-batman-film/

[BnaBreaker]

Someone from work told me about this , and I told him (yeah right) !! So I looked it up and saw articles on it. I thought I would share.

It would be the coolest thing if this happens http://nashvillegeeklife.com/2014/04/nashville-landmark-selected-for-batman-film/

 

You must not have seen this below the article:

(Editor’s Note: Please note that this is an April Fools Day joke published for entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this post should be quoted as factual.)

[chris holman]

Sorry I thought it was real