Transportation upgrades around Nashville can now draw from $100 million in capital funding announced Friday by Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
At a press event at a Bellevue roundabout newly dedicated to longtime public servant Billy Lynch, O'Connell praised the dedicated dollars as a transformative investment. He was joined by Choose How You Move chief Sabrina Sussman, Metro Councilmembers Sheri Weiner and Jason Spain, transit advocates and transportation staff. Behind him, Bellevue drivers navigated a new traffic circle blending Todd Preis Drive and Sawyer Brown Road.
“Across Nashville, Choose How You Move is turning plans into projects people can see and use,” said O’Connell, introducing the package. "From new sidewalks to safer streets to more transit options, these investments are making it safe, easier and cheaper for people to get where they need to go.”
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O’Connell won the mayor’s office in 2023 partly with a clear message to improve Nashville’s transportation options. As the recent population boom crowded Davidson County, the car-friendly city has struggled to adapt infrastructure for bus riders, pedestrians and cyclists. Local traffic has also worsened on the city’s outdated signal system, another CHYM funding target. The new commitment brings CHYM’s total funding to $220 million.
The package will split $100 million across various aspects of local transportation. Nashville’s bus infrastructure will receive $29.8 million — the biggest chunk — between fleet expansion, new and improved transit centers (including the new Donelson Transit Center), and operations and maintenance. Remaining funding will be spread between sidewalks ($16.8 million), signals and traffic operations ($19 million), all-access corridors on Gallatin and Nolensville pikes ($7.2 million), and safety ($22.4 million), which encompasses various Complete Street projects. Edgehill Avenue, Jefferson Street, Lebanon Pike, County Hospital Road and East Thompson Lane have been eyed for these comprehensive roadway renovations that expand bike, pedestrian and bus access. Another $500,000 will go toward another transit-oriented development study.
The successful 2024 countywide CHYM referendum, engineered by O’Connell’s office, green-lit dedicated funding for certain infrastructure projects under the CHYM banner. Voters approved a half-percent increase to the local sales tax, freeing certain transit projects from stop-and-go budget allocations and mayors’ discretionary capital spending plans. O’Connell proceeded to staff up, formally hiring Michael Briggs, a former Vanderbilt mobility director who helped steer the winning CHYM effort, as well as Sabrina Sussman, who recently marked a year as CHYM's chief program officer.
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“ Every project in this investment package represents a step toward a transportation system that gives people more choices, safer trips, and more time back in their day, whether they're walking, biking, rolling, riding transit or driving,” said Sussman from the podium on Friday.
Steady funding has allowed the growing team to tackle transportation projects across the city. The referendum’s broadly defined scope includes four target areas — “sidewalks, signals, service, safety” — that have led to new city bus stops, bike lanes and traffic engineering on Nashville streets. A more frequent and reliable bus network has been O’Connell’s recent focus.
“ There definitely has to be a method by which we encourage fewer cars,” says Walter Searcy, who chairs the mayor’s Advisory Committee on Transportation. “The tip of that spear is better bus service.”
Steadily rising bus ridership and a growing movement for pedestrian and cyclist safety indicate that, slowly, transportation is changing in Nashville.
