BRT (not BRT-lite) coming to Nashville...and maybe Detroit

[tufsu1]

This week FTA approved Nashville's BRT to enter the Project Development phase...the video embedded in the article tells the story

http://nextcity.org/infrastructure/entry/brt-has-had-a-pretty-good-week-so-far

[thelakelander]

Great video.  A few things stand out to me that most would probably overlook.

First, the Amp will cost $25 million/mile on ROW that's already in place.  It essentially is in the price range of streetcar, but that's the range in numbers you're going to deal with when providing dedicated lanes. 

Second, it's very comparable to Cleveland's Health Line BRT, in that the existing context of the corridor selected is ideal for mass transit.  It's a corridor that's already home to a number of popular destinations.  So the Amp is really a context sensitive streetscaping project tying Nashville's most popular destinations together with high frequency transit. Unlike, Cleveland, this one may actually be "rapid" because stations are space a little further apart and the entire line appears to be on dedicated lanes.

As for it's ability to "spur" TOD, I don't know.  If I recall, this corridor already has a pattern of mixed-use development and infill along it. It also doesn't appear to be penetrating any economically distressed areas, so the good will get better with this one.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Nashville has been doing a lot of great things lately, so I'm confident this BRT line will be up-to-snuff as well.

[thelakelander]

Some images of the corridor the Amp will serve.  looks like they'll be doing a lane diet, by reducing the highway to 4-lanes and dedicating two of them for BRT.









Sort of different from this.....





Thus, expect different outcomes....