Half of Nashville's Roads in Disrepair (Franklin: property tax, bus, moving)

[Edmund_Burke]

Weather, lack of funding degrade nearly half of Nashville roads to 'substandard' condition | Nashville City Paper

[mrnovember]

On West End between 21st and Broadway is a section of road that will destroy your car and/or your kidneys if you aren't careful. Not sure if they have gotten it repaired, but as bad as the road was when I drove on it, cars should be kept off it altogether.

[Edmund_Burke]

And that's one of the "$$$" parts of town.

[Crakaveli]

but there's a brand spankin new convention center coming!

[BirdieBelle]

This state of affairs is another argument FOR regional public transit in Middle Tennessee.

We need the convention center. Those big shows bring in hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy so the city doesn't have to pay for things through property tax alone.

But the roads can be chalked up to poor financial planning on the part of the city,county and the state.

Cities get what's called "state shared" funding to be applied to roadwork. This comes primarily from the gas tax. Even though we have MILLIONS more drivers on our roads, Tennessee's gas tax has not been raised since the late '80s. With more fuel-efficient cars on the road and more electric vehicles, there will continue to be a funding deficit.

States with lower gas taxes also supplement their funding with pay-as-you-go systems. If we want to continue to DRIVE EVERYWHERE, roadwork will have to be paid for somehow.

We have to realize that we can't continue on this path. I can't just get in my car and go where I need to go without consequences.

[Edmund_Burke]

I like how Singapore handles infrastructure, they seem to be TOPS.

[Moving_South]

Someone recently told me that I'll probably qualify for a senior citizens discount by the time they have light rail from Franklin to downtown Nashville (I'm currently 46 years old)

[BirdieBelle]

Yes, it's probably two decades and hundreds of millions of dollars away. But light rail isn't the only option.

[Moving_South]

Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life

Yes, it's probably two decades and hundreds of millions of dollars away. But light rail isn't the only option.

Agreed. More frequent bus service would be great

[Edmund_Burke]

Originally Posted by Moving_South

Someone recently told me that I'll probably qualify for a senior citizens discount by the time they have light rail from Franklin to downtown Nashville (I'm currently 46 years old)

Lightrail is one of the biggest scams out there. There's one built in San Fran awhile back just to jaked up the value of the property held by well-connected including Pelosi.