Gov. Bill Lee talks transportation at Greater Nashville Regional Council event – Tennessean
Gov. Bill Lee and the Greater Nashville Regional Council kicked off the latest effort to address transportation and public transit challenges in Middle Tennessee on Wednesday.
Regional leaders met to discuss the next major initiative to identify transportation issues and come up with solutions. The event comes as the GNRC’s Southern Corridor Study is underway.
The study analyzes transportation improvements that could mitigate traffic in Davidson, Williamson and Maury counties. Its three points of focus are Interstate 65, Highway 31 and the CSX railway that runs parallel to Highway 31.
The kickoff for a new plan comes three years after Middle Tennessee Connected, a unified plan developed by GNRC that was adopted by area mayors and transportation officials. The U.S. Department of Transportation requires metropolitan areas to update their regional transportation plans every five years in order to remain eligible for federal funding.
Despite having a framework in the 2016 plan that outlines projected growth in Middle Tennessee, existing transportation infrastructure, current challenges and recommendations, Lee didn’t provide any specifics as to what the new plan might look like.
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“We haven’t developed ideas yet,” Lee said, when asked for details about possible transportation solutions going forward. “Every idea will be on the table. We obviously have to address the congestion in the urban centers, particularly in Nashville where we have the greatest problems, but we will, at the same time, be looking at infrastructure in rural counties and smaller towns.
We’re always working on transportation, (and) have been for decades. But this is the launch of a new plan and a new development of a strategy going forward.”
Historically, Tennessee governors have not been particularly involved in the metropolitan planning organization’s regional transportation plans, said Michelle Lacewell, deputy director of the GNRC.
“This is the first time we’ve really engaged the governor’s office,” Lacewell said. “It’s great to have them at the table.”
Also to be determined is how transportation improvements, such as expanded public transit, will be funded.
Lee said he would not support measures such as toll roads or bonds to finance projects.
“We don’t need to borrow a lot of money to do projects like this, but there are innovative, creative ways to find funding,” he said, including public-private partnerships.
Like all transportation plans led by GNRC, this one will have a regional approach with buy-in from mayors in Davidson, Williamson, Maury, Sumner, Robertson, Wilson and Rutherford counties.
Reach Elaina Sauber at esauber@tennessean.com, 615-571-1172 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.
Published 7:35 PM EDT Oct 30, 2019
