Creating Places: A Citizen Observer's Look at Nashville's Built Environment


Writer's Note: William Williams' interest in the manmade environment dates to 1970, at which point the then-young Williams started a collection of postcards of city skylines. The collection now numbers 1,000-plus cards. Among the writer's specific interests are exterior building design, city district planning, demographics, signage, mixed-use development, mass transit and green/sustainable construction and living. Williams began his Creating Places column with The City Paper in February 2005. The column in its original form was discontinued in September 2008 and reinvented via this blog in November 2008. Creating Places can be found on the home page of the website of The City Paper, at which Williams has worked in various capacities since October 2000.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Creating Places: Cleveland bound and BRT ready

I'm headed to Cleveland Monday to sample that city's HealthLine bus rapid transit system. Assuming a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum doesn't so overwhelm me with excitement that I quit writing on this blogsite to pursue a career as a musician, I will provide a BRT report soon. Until then, I can say that — based on a good bit of time I've spent on Google Streetview and talking to some pros — the system looks inviting and successful.


Posted by at

6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 8, 2012 at 1:13 AM

    It will be interesting to hear how the BRT has done in sparking upgrades in the Euclid Avenue corridor in downtown...it certainly needed some help last time I was up there (spring, 2010). Some beautiful old building stock in that city, indeed...lots of rehab potential.

    I love that they have light rail from the airport into downtown, as it's a big money-saver over a cab ride!

    ReplyDelete
  2. William WilliamsJuly 8, 2012 at 10:43 AM

    AMous,

    Agree on the Euclid/beautiful buildings assessment. I visited Cleveland in 1999 and was very impressed with the downtown.

    I'm also curious to see how the BRT interacts with the Cleveland State University campus (although I think Chester Avenue is the main street related to CSU). Should be very interesting.

    WW

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 8, 2012 at 7:25 PM

    William - Have you spoken with Tony Giarratana recently? Was wondering if there was any news on his latest proposed projects. - Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 11, 2012 at 6:09 PM

    BRT is an asset in revitalizing broken down parts of town. West End corridor..not so broken down. Do we have to break it to maybe make it better? I hope not

    ReplyDelete
  5. William WilliamsJuly 14, 2012 at 7:38 PM

    A-Mous III,

    Good point. I don't see BRT needed to "revitalize" the segment of West End from 440 to Belle Meade Kroger. That stretch has long been stable. And that is one of the concerns (and criticisms) some are voicing.

    WW

    ReplyDelete
  6. myronJuly 16, 2012 at 8:27 AM

    I have always thought that BRT should go in the "lesser" corridors radiating from downtown. Just came back from Dublin and OMG!! A city that fell on hard time back in the 80's blocked off to motorized traffic several streets... chiefly Grafton, and the day/night activity is absolutely amazing. Maybe a BRT-only street where one day there would be LRT. So that would rule out West End in my opinion. Although, I see lots of potential for those streets that run E-W between West End, Demobreun and Church Streets. They could be the BRT routes and some of the North-South connector streets (the numbered streets) could be blocked off to ped traffic only. Lots of "raw product" there as things are now.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)