Amp Skeptics Call for Metro Spending On the Project To Stop

Mayor Dean announced this week that he would not seek a local or state financial contribution for the Amp while he was in office. Credit: File Photo

About $1.2 million of local taxpayer money has been spent on Mayor Karl Dean’s signature transportation project, known as the Amp. Amid Dean’s recent retreat from the project and opposition from several fronts, critics say local spending on the bus line should be halted.

Records show that nearly four out of every five dollars of the $1.2 million has been spent on engineers planning the route. One out of every five, or around $259,000, has been dedicated to four staffers who focus on administrative and public relations tasks.

The money is part of the $7.5 million that Metro Council approved last June as part of the city’s capital spending plan. City transit planners envision that the largest chunk of Amp funding will come from the federal government, with a hopeful financial contribution from the state. The original price tag was advertised as $174 million, though with fewer bus-only lanes than what had been on the table in the beginning, the final cost is expected to be meaningfully lower than that.

Rick Williams, who is leading the charge against the transit project, says it doesn’t make sense to continue using Metro money for Amp purposes if the project’s future looks bleak. And it’s perhaps no surprise that, from his view, the Amp is futureless.

“I’m opposed to a single penny being spent on the Amp, or anything like the Amp, on that route,” Williams said, referring to the 7-mile stretch along West End Avenue from White Bridge Road to 5 Points.”The money that has been spent on the Amp appears to be wasted. The project has no future and nobody embraces it.”

Amp spokeswoman Holly McCall objects to that characterization. She said, first of all, a transit line down West End Avenue is not collapsed just because Dean pushed it off to his successor. Secondly, as far as infrastructure projects go, Metro’s financial commitment to the Amp is relatively modest.

“The citizens of Nashville should be proud of the good stewardship of their money,” McCall said, saying funding a better transit system for the city is a worthy cause.