VANDERBILT POLITICAL REVIEW
DOMESTIC
amongst the nation’s hundred largest
metropolitan areas in terms of the degree
to which each has recovered from the recession. This economic success has led
many to declare Nashville to be a hidden
gem of the South; a modern boomtown
that is fast on the rise. Development of
the Amp will deepen that perception and
its validity for years to come.
At the risk of sounding superficial, another important quality
of the Amp is its aesthetics. The
system represents an urban development project with a slant
towards beautification, reducing
carbon emissions, and forward
thinking (each bus, for example, will have free Wi-Fi). Projects like the Amp not only bring
national attention to the city, but
will further stimulate and modernize Nashville’s urban center.
Despite these benefits, however, the Amp has its share of
critics, who have joined together to form the aforementioned
“Stop Amp” campaign. One of
their main grievances is that
the West End-Five Points route is not
ideal, suggesting that a route traveling
down the parallel Charlotte Pike would
stimulate more growth while causing
less traffic. A second concern is that the
Amp will actually increase congestion in
certain key areas – both during and after
construction. To a certain extent, both
of these claims are correct. Charlotte
Pike is far less developed than West End
Avenue and also less heavily trafficked.
Traffic congestion for automobiles will
also temporarily increase as lanes on the
proposed route are dedicated to the Amp,
and as drivers switch to new routes (like
21st Avenue). Where the naysayers fall
short, however, is in their examination
of the Amp as the end-all-be-all of traffic initiatives, when in fact, it is only
the beginning of a much larger vision.
The Amp isn’t intended to be a stopgap solution; it is, ideally, to be the
first of many projects – including other BRT’s – aimed at expanding public
transportation and solving traffic concerns in the Nashville area. For any of
these projects to proceed, however, the
Nashville needs something like this.
Yes, Charlotte Pike needs something
like this. But what “Stop Amp” fails to
realize is that those projects will never happen without taking this first step.
The bus rapid transit model – which
is perhaps best conceptualized as a
streetcar system without the railway –
is also the only viable method
for dealing with the aforementioned traffic and population
growth concerns. Roads cannot simply be widened enough
to solve these problems because of the obvious logistical
constraints presented by a fixed
line of storefronts. Rail cars
are prohibitively expensive
and would require even more
construction, causing even
more short-term traffic delays.
Expansion of existing bus
service