The Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) held an open-house forum on Tuesday night for the public to voice their opinions and hear the proposed plans for the future of traffic and transit in the region at the Williamson County Public Library.
Every five years, the Nashville MPO publishes a Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), which represents the collective transportation goals of city and county governments, transit agencies and the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). This year’s plan is called Middle Tennessee Connected and its purpose is to identify how these groups will work together to invest federal grants and improve mobility across the counties in Middle Tennessee, including Davidson, Maury, Robertson, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties.
This federally designated agency has the authority to plan, prioritize and select transportation projects for federal funding set aside by the U.S. Congress through the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration.
The meeting had several stations set up, where attendees could ask questions, hear presentations, watch videos and give their suggestions for improvement within the county.
Michael Skipper, the Executive Director of the Nashville MPO guided the room through the trends and issues Williamson County is currently facing through the area’s growth and development.
Skipper explained that the seven counties are expected to have the population size of Denver by 2040. Williamson County alone is expected to have a population increase of at least 536,000. Currently, the seven counties in total have about 1.6 million residents and 1.2 million licensed drivers. “We’re going to be a congested region in the future,” Skipper said. “It’s the manifestation of people wanting to live in the area.”
He also gave a brief outline of the 2016 RTP, which will be finalized on the Nashville MPO’s website by February 17. One major point Skipper went over was the cost for all the current projects the counties need, totaling at roughly $8.5 billion, which will be funded from 80 percent of federal funds and 20 percent of state and local funds.
“It will probably end up costing more, but we have to be conservative because congress has done nothing for a quarter of a century.”
The $8.5 billion in funding has been recommended by the MPO to go toward roadway and interstate expansion and extension, additional carpool lanes, roadway capacity expansion, new sidewalks, bike lanes, reduction of vehicle emissions, road reconstruction and multi-modal upgrades.
Skipper said additional funding could come through a short-term solution, gas taxes. But he believes other options should also be considered, since newer models of car are using alternative fuel methods.
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