In less than six months, Nashvillians will go to the polls on Election Day – November 5, 2024 – to vote on many important issues and races, including who will serve as our nation’s President. Locally, however, Nashvillians will also vote on a multibillion dollar transit plan that is the first to appear on the local ballet since a 2018 plan that was met with a crushing defeat: 64% of Nashville voted nay versus 36% who voted yea.

The transit plan that Nashvillians will vote on six years after the 2018 plan vote is rather different from the 2018 plan. For one thing, the 2018 plan had a price-tag of around $9 billion. The 2024 plan’s price tag is about closer to $3 billion. But, much has changed since the vote on the 2018 plan, including technological advancements – and the city’s level of traffic congestion.

In a very special edition of Climbing the Charts, we are joined by Michael Briggs. Briggs was the Vanderbilt Director of Mobility and Transportation, but he’s now “on loan” from Vandy to Metro Government. Briggs became the Director of Transportation Planning in the office of Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell in January ’24 and will serve in that role through the end of 2024. As you might guess, Briggs has been brought in as a senior transportation consultant as part of the push to explain help promote the “Choose How You Move” transit proposal and advise on how we transform our stress and improve transportation throughout Middle Tennessee. As Briggs puts it, ““We’re not building new streets. We’re not building new roads (for the most part), so it’s about trying to use that [existing] infrastructure in better ways that meet our modern needs.”

So, join us for a deep dive as we delve into why transit should be considered essential infrastructure and explore how improving transportation can also address broader community needs. Additionally, we discuss many of the most important components of Mayor O’Connell's “Choose How You Move” transportation improvement program, examine why more lanes and parking spaces won’t solve Nashville’s transit issues, and analyze why previous transit plans have failed in Music City. Of particular interest to many of our listeners, we also explore how this transit plan is inextricably linked to housing and creating more affordable housing in particular, as well as how real estate developers may play critical and positive roles if “Choose How You Move” gets the green light from Nashvillians come November!