In the wake of an ambitious ballot measure’s defeat, better mobility can help Nashville find its identity

Nashville's Union Station hasn't seen any passenger rail service since 1979. (Photo by me)

On May 1, 2018, the people of Nashville, TN decided the transportation options I prefer weren’t for them. Yes, propaganda from Koch-funded groups like Americans for Prosperity may have influenced some perspectives, and ex-Mayor Megan Barry’s demise certainly didn’t boost the cause. But in the end, it was the region’s residents who took time out of their day to head to the polls and send a message that I interpreted as a powerful rejection of my way of life.

However, I ignored that message, traveling to the Music City for a weekend trip earlier this month.

My Southwest Airlines plane flew over a lot of large parking lots during its descent into Nashville International Airport. (Photo by me) 

As my flight from DC descended into town, providing panoramic views of strip malls and parking lots as it outran the Green New Deal’s End of Air Travel, my expectations were low. Though I was excited to see my relatives who I was to meet there, I figured I was in for yet another car-based family trip. I was also still mad that the city had been granted an MLS expansion franchise at the expense of Sacramento Republic FC, which won the United Soccer League title in its debut season.

And as for the city’s music, my prior exposure to the country genre was mostly limited to the modern-day ballads that worship guns, pickup trucks, Bud Light, and women in tight jeans.

Thanks to my previous transportation experiences in the South, which include a three-hour Amtrak delay in Anniston, AL and a lot of long walks across the cavernous transit gaps of Charleston, SC, I was not surprised when, upon landing just before 10pm, I learned the next Route 18 bus from the airport to the city center would not arrive for another 50 minutes.

Nashville International Airport's bus stop. (Photo by me)

The bus arrived 12 minutes behind schedule and traveled via an interstate to Music City Central Station, a short walk from the hotel bar where my father, cousin, and her fiancé awaited. After a shot of whiskey at the bar, it was time to go explore the city that had broken so many urbanist American hearts.

Over the next three days, I would learn that the ill-fated transit referendum was just one small piece of a sophisticated city’s effort to reclaim its identity.

   

Ride-hailing vehicles and taxis congest Nashville's Lower Broadway. (Photo by me)

We got our first glimpse of the opposing forces straining Nashville that first night on Lower Broadway, a nightlife corridor with ride hailing-created congestion that dwarfs even DC’s notorious U Street or Connecticut Avenue.

Our first stop – Robert’s Western World – showed off the best of Nashville’s vibrant culture, as a crowd of people from all walks of life chatted, drank, and danced to an eclectic, high-quality array of live music. But our second destination – Honky Tonk Central – aimed solely to be trendy. It’s possible that we just caught it on a bad night, but during the one beer we endured there, a homogenous crowd of twenty-somethings robotically moved to off-key renditions of formulaic songs whose titles begin with “Sweet.”

A rendering of a proposed development project in Nashville. (Photo by me)

The morning light the next day revealed the full scope of the city’s identity crisis.

Though the defeated transit expansion plan had strong upsides, some questioned its emphasis on city-center economic development. But even without transportation infrastructure improvements to support them, the economic development projects seem to be proceeding unabated. Brand-new apartment and condo towers surround the downtown area and countless more city blocks sit razed, presumably awaiting similar construction.

A sign notifies the public of an upcoming hearing on parking requirements. (Photo by me)

These new projects have positive aspects. For example, on our way to see the city’s Parthenon (a full-scale replica of the one in Athens, minus the metro station), we walked past a sign at one proposed condo site informing the public of an upcoming hearing on the developer’s request to reduce the site’s minimum parking requirements.

But overall, it seemed that buildings are just being plopped down at random, without a grander vision to integrate them into well-connected, mixed-use neighborhoods. Though many pre-existing structures could, with the right improvements, effectively mix traditional aesthetics with modern culture – much as aforementioned Robert’s did – they’re instead being torn down blindly.

Nashville's Music City Central Station. (Photo by me)

Nashville does have a deeper character, but to find it, we had to look beyond the city center’s glitz. For example, the Gulch neighborhood, otherwise a largely stale mesh of concrete, glass, and asphalt sandwiched between three interstates just southwest of downtown, contains the Station Inn, a legendary, but intimate music venue with acts guaranteed to impress on any given night. 

A closed sidewalk in Nashville. (Photo by me)

Venturing farther outside the urban core, we found predictably bike- and pedestrian-hostile streets, but also a variety of unique restaurants, stores, bars, and breweries.

In finding our way to, from, and between these destinations, we strongly felt the forces behind the city’s identity crisis.

Nashville’s transportation infrastructure – a network of highways and wide arterials that feed into large parking lots – is designed primarily for personal auto use. Ride-hailing companies have piggybacked on this infrastructure, of course.

When my dad and I boarded Route 4 at the Vinyl Tap record store and bar, we were the only riders on the bus. A few other passengers got on as we progressed toward the city center. (Photo by me)

Bus routes do utilize the highways and arterials, comprising a hub-and-spoke system that operates at limited frequencies and converges at the aforementioned Music City Central Station. Since we were staying close to the downtown transit center, buses effectively served most of our mobility needs for the weekend. But most people seemed to have little idea the bus system was there.

A bus stop bench near Wilburn Street Tavern mocks the annoyances of driving. (Photo by me)

The city seems to want something more than this status quo. Bus stop benches even featured tounge-in-cheek messages intended to entice drivers to try transit, such as “parking schmarking” and “driving is boooring.” But – as with the ongoing downtown-area redevelopment – the focus seems to be primarily on plopping new things down, without considering how they can enhance what’s already there and effectively fit into peoples’ lives.

A drive-thru liquor store and a cyclist forced onto the sidewalk by a lack of adequate infrastructure comprise a fitting background for the BRT Lite station across the street from Smith & Lentz Brewing Company. (Photo by me)

For example, one bus route we rode (Route 56), advertised as “BRT Lite,” featured modestly upgraded stations. But the stops required challenging street crossings to access, and the route lacked the short headways and dedicated lanes needed to support the top-notch service riders deserve from a product sold as Bus Rapid Transit.

Scooters in Nashville's city center. (Photo by me)

Shared e-scooters dotted the streets, but as with the BRT Lite line, the city hadn’t invested in the dedicated infrastructure needed to safely and efficiently accommodate them. 

Due to its poor placement, this Nashville B-Cycle station obstructs bus riders. (Photo by me)

The dock-based bikeshare system, Nashville B-Cycle, seemed even more haphazardly deployed. For example, one of the system’s stations in the Gulch stood right in a bus stop, obstructing us from getting off our Route 17 bus rather than serving as the effective first and last mile connection it presumably was intended to.

Nashville's Union Station, a relic of a better transportation past, contrasts with the auto-dependent environment in the foreground. (Photo by me)

The city’s approach to longer-distance mobility also focuses too much on appearances at the expense of substance. Nashville Union Station has been magnificently restored – as a Marriott hotel. Meanwhile, the city has remained without intercity rail service since the Jimmy Carter administration cut Amtrak’s Chicago-Miami/St. Petersburg Floridian in 1979.

Intercity bus service hasn’t stepped in to fill the gap. For example, my dad traveled on to Asheville, NC from Nashville, but was forced to rent a car for the trip because the sole bus option connecting the two locations, operated by Greyhound, departed at 1:30am and required a transfer.

Nashville's Route 56 bus, advertised as Bus Rapid Transit, takes on riders at Music City Central Station. (Photo by me)

The rejected ballot measure would not have solved all of Nashville’s urban planning challenges. For example, the new rail and BRT lines would have converged in the city center, as the existing transit system does, while the spoke-based activity hubs we enjoyed would have remained relatively unconnected to each other.

Despite this, the proposed infrastructure improvements would have brought Nashville some of the substance it needs to reclaim the identity it currently can’t find. The resulting connectivity would have allowed the city to develop in a more natural manner, bringing old and new together.

Musical notation on the bus shelter in front of Nashville Municipal Auditorium. (Photo by me)

Fortunately, though transit planners can put referenda before voters as many times as they want, they only have to win once to make those plans reality. It’s inevitable that one day, Nashville will obtain the funding it needs to bolster its transit system. 

Until then, however, it will be experiences like the one we had at Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack that continue to define Nashville’s mobility and culture. Situated in an outlying strip mall, it was one of the few places we visited during the trip that we got to via ride-hailing instead of by bus. However, dark windows greeted us when we arrived, and we soon learned that recent damage to the structure had necessitated a long-term closure.

The cause of the damage: a car that had crashed into the building several weeks earlier.