Nashville suburb for easiest in suburb driving? (Nashville-Davidson, Murfreesboro: best suburbs, apartments)

[NVMove]

Hi all,

I haven't really seen this addressed on here before.

Considering a move to one of the towns outlying Nashville.

I am wondering if people have feedback on which towns within easy reach of Nashville are the easiest to drive around in. By easiest to drive in, I mean that I would like to avoid tense driving like having to make unprotected left turns onto busy highways, left out of parking lots onto busy, fast streets, etc.

I'm a good driver, but I just don't like that sort of driving. Coming from a small town....

I don't mind corners at all with traffic lights or 4 way stops, etc. Just trying to avoid tense, unprotected spots.

I work from home and have the luxury of not being on a real time schedule, so I don't have to go out in rush hours, etc.

I would like to get into Nashville once in a while, so I was strongly considering Mt. Juliet largely because of the Music City Star and the proximity to the lakes. (The lakes are a plus to me, but certainly not a deal breaker.). But - someone told me that driving in Mt. Juliet is a nightmare. Is that true? I'm mostly talking about going to grocery store, church, hardware store, restaurants, etc. all in the suburb.

I've been looking online at Franklin, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Gallatin, Lebanon, all the obvious ones. No kids, so schools are not a concern. I think I can afford what I am looking for in any of those towns, so I'd rather get someplace where the driving is easy.

In the best of all worlds I'd like to live a bit out of the suburb on small acreage, but only if easy to drive into and out of the suburb to the house.

At a second level - which are the best suburbs for ubering around in?

Of course I know I need to make some visits, but feedback here can steer my online looking and optimize my visits when I get there.

Any feedback would be welcome.

Thanks!

[Tomandjerry45]

I wouldn't say Mt. Juliet is any worse than any other suburbs traffic. Mt. Juliet has a very popular outdoor mall, which generates lots of traffic at times. Outside of Mt. Juliet Road (south of Lowe's), traffic isn't really that bad in the rest of the city. Shopping (Kroger/Publix/restaurants/city services) are easily found on the Northside of town, with less traffic during peak times.

[Shakeesha]

None. But the best for easy driving would be Lebanon, Lewisburg, and Dickson. Good towns, close enough to Nashville, but far enough to have a more rural vibe with grocery and shopping options.

[BuffaloHome]

Mt Juliet is infinitely nicer than Lebanon. If you pick Lebanon you'll probably end up going to MJ anyway for shopping unless a ghetto Walmart is all you need. Lebanon has done a lousy job keeping its infrastructure updated to match its growth (tons of apartments). There's only something like 4 roads in Lebanon that are more than 2 lanes wide. Honestly, traffic in MJ is not bad except around the Providence shopping mecca/I-40 during rush hour. Northern MJ has almost zero traffic outside of rush hour, and you can live right on or really close to Old Hickory Lake.

If you want the charm of a town with a traditional downtown and also proximity to a lake, check out Gallatin.

[mattec]

If schools aren't a concern, you may be able to find what you're wanting in Nashville-Davidson Co. itself. Consider Bellevue, Old Hickory, Joelton, Pasquo, or the northern portion of the county past Goodlettsville near Ridgetop.

[artemis]

I would recommend Gallatin or Hendersonville.

Close enough to get to the city, but a rural feel.

[NVMove]

Hey - OP here -

Thanks, everyone, for the GREAT information so far!

I now have some new cities / areas that I've never heard of before that I need to check out and a lot to consider.

Looking forward to any more thoughts on all this, and also especially any thoughts on Franklin as far as the driving situation goes, compared to the others. I know Franklin doesn't have the lake or the train, but I just learned it has a bus that goes into downtown. I had pretty much eliminated Franklin due to lake and train, but curious about driving in Franklin vs. the others. One reason I haven't dropped Franklin (yet) is that I've heard that it has the most going on for songwriters (writer nights, workshops, etc.) more than any of the other towns other than Nashville. Is that true? Again - my completely overriding thing is the driving, but if other things are equal I need to balance the other things I like (like the songwriting community, lake, train, etc.).

Thanks so much everyone, I really appreciate the thoughts and info!

Keep 'em coming!

[artemis]

Originally Posted by NVMove

Hey - OP here -

Thanks, everyone, for the GREAT information so far!

I now have some new cities / areas that I've never heard of before that I need to check out and a lot to consider.

Looking forward to any more thoughts on all this, and also especially any thoughts on Franklin as far as the driving situation goes, compared to the others. I know Franklin doesn't have the lake or the train, but I just learned it has a bus that goes into downtown. I had pretty much eliminated Franklin due to lake and train, but curious about driving in Franklin vs. the others. One reason I haven't dropped Franklin (yet) is that I've heard that it has the most going on for songwriters (writer nights, workshops, etc.) more than any of the other towns other than Nashville. Is that true? Again - my completely overriding thing is the driving, but if other things are equal I need to balance the other things I like (like the songwriting community, lake, train, etc.).

Thanks so much everyone, I really appreciate the thoughts and info!

Keep 'em coming!

Franklin traffic is a mess.

Tons of musicians, etc in East Nashville. But, it doesn't have a country/rural feel to it.

[CountryGirl2b=]

I live in Franklin and don’t mind the traffic. There is road construction that is annoying but at least is going to help in the long run. I do tend to do shopping, etc, before noon on weekdays, because I can. And avoid the Cool Springs Mall area around Christmas. There are a lot of side roads that are easy to figure out. Most everything you’d need is here, including a community hospital. There are backroads into downtown Nashville. Airport is 30 - 40 minutes depending on the time of day. The bus into Nashville is pretty inconvenient. I wouldn’t use that as a consideration. Franklin does have a Trolly jitney sort of thing that has some routes around the City. I have used it when my car was in the shop. You kind of have to be near a route for it to be helpful but at least it’s something. I hate traffic, too. It’s really unavoidable anywhere. Franklin isn’t rural but there are rural areas - mostly outside the city limits. Note that Nashville arteries are better at going North and South than they are going East and West. Sort of like spikes of a wheel leading out of downtown.

[MTFan]

You might want to look at right outside of Murfreesboro as well.