Metro Nashville is testing a protected center lane for emergency response vehicles on Lower Broadway starting Sept. 12 and continuing through October.
Another priority lane will also be tested for WeGo buses in the heart of Music City’s tourism district. It will intersect Broadway on Fourth Avenue as it travels between Commerce and Demonbreun streets.
Both pilot projects will be in place on Fridays and Saturdays between 7:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. They are intended to gauge how effective it would be for emergency vehicles and buses to be given priority in and around the heart of downtown.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell announced the projects Sept. 12 to ease downtown traffic.
“As our venues and events on both sides of the river have filled up with more and more people, it means that moving around for everybody — for pedestrians, for motorists, for transit users, for cyclists — has become more of a challenge during those periods of peak congestion,” O’Connell said, during his weekly roundtable with reporters, flanked by officials with the Metro Nashville Police Department, WeGo and the Nashville Department of Transportation.
MNPD Central Precinct Commander Rickey Bearden said gridlocked traffic is a “huge concern” between Rep. John Lewis Way and Second Avenue during peak weekend hours. That has created large crowds gathering in the middle of the street. He expects this program to help emergency responders to better respond to calls for service in a timely manner.
O’Connell said that traffic from the city’s central bus hub downtown is slow to reach bus routes south of Broadway during busy times.
Traffic control officers wearing yellow and black high-visibility shirts will ensure the priority travel lanes are only used by emergency vehicles and WeGo buses.
“This lane will be merged by traffic control staff on the ground to ensure that buses are able to navigate across Broadway and through downtown and keep service running efficiently,” NDOT Director of Operations Phillip Jones said. “Our goal is to support transit service during peak times and ensure WeGo drivers are able to get where they want to go on time.”
Austin Hornbostel is the Metro reporter for The Tennessean. Have a question about local government you want an answer to? Reach him at ahornbostel@tennessean.com.
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