Revised Traffic Study Fails To Impress Amp Advisory Committee

The Citizen Advisory Committee was assembled by Mayor Karl Dean to review the Amp project. The panel is a team of rivals, including several vocal opponents of the Amp. Credit: Blake Farmer / WPLN

A panel of citizens charged with revising the troubled bus rapid transit line known as the Amp spent Tuesday afternoon picking apart new traffic projections. The figures for the scaled-back bus line didn’t wow the advisory committee.

On the whole, traffic on West End would move roughly 30 percent faster with the Amp than without. This is based on sophisticated modeling, looking ahead to 2018 (see presentation here) when the BRT line would be fully up and running.

In downtown and East Nashville, there would be almost no difference. And at some intersections, the projections show cars will end up with longer wait times than if there were no bus line running down dedicated lanes in the median. For instance, the average wait at I-440 and Murphy Rd. during the morning rush hour would be 45 seconds without the Amp and one minute with the BRT line.

Critics of the Amp are seizing on the updated figures as evidence that the $175 million project should be scrapped altogether.

“175 million dollars could be spent to improve public transportation for other areas,” auto dealer and advisory committee member Lee Beaman said. “This is not an area of town where people don’t have other modes of transportation.”

Beaman says his “gut feeling” suggests traffic will actually get worse, despite the modeling that shows at least some improvement. Still, those on the fence are not impressed by the study.

“If it will make matters work better, then we should do it,” says North Nashville community leader Arnett Bodenhamer. “If it doesn’t improve things, then why do it?”

Asked if he’s convinced the Amp would improve traffic, Bodenhamer says, “not yet.”

But mass transit is about more than relieving traffic congestion, say Amp boosters. As a growing city, newcomers will expect some kind of transit beyond a traditional bus.

“There are younger people who like to ride transit. There are [baby] boomers who will need transit,” says Lewis Levine, who leads the Center for Non Profit Management. “Giving people choices is an important piece of the puzzle.”