Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick joined Thursday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss what may be included in Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s anticipated multimodal transportation plan.
O’Connell, who was elected mayor in last year’s runoff election, vowed during his campaign to address Nashville’s “infrastructure and transit concerns” and is expected to release a multimodal plan in the near future.
Last week on The Tennessee Star Report, all-star panelist Ben Cunningham said he had reason to believe that the implementation of a light rail from downtown Nashville to the Nashville International Airport will be included in the mayor’s plan, however, Eslick said he believes the plan will instead be “very bus intensive” with the focus on better transporting people from their place of work or housing to a bus stop.
“I don’t know about light rail. I think it’s really going to be bus intensive, and to me, when we get on the idea or the thought of busing – I guess in the big lines like the Murfreesboro Road and the Gallatin Road, that type of line, you could use the double bus with the accordion thing in the Middle – but otherwise, they talk about the first and last mile of it. It’s to your house to the bus stop, to the bus stop to your work and back and that’s the problem,” Eslick explained. “You could say, “Hey, I know that Jack is picked up at this point on Gallatin Road and he gets off at this one right over here.” Well, let’s say he does it every day or five days a week. Let’s ask Jack, “How far is it or where do you go after this?” And then maybe we can have a smaller vehicle and take him closer to his job.”
Eslick said he is planning to meet with the mayor to discuss transit issues in his district, noting how other council members are scheduled to also meet with the mayor to discuss specific transit issues within their districts.
“I actually have a meeting with him, I think it’s next week or the week after, to talk about multimodal in my neighborhood and my district,” Eslick said. “I think it’ll probably get a better idea of what he’s looking to do as well as be able to give some ideas.”
Eslick said his district, District 11, could use some improvements on its rail lines to accommodate different carriers to be used on existing train tracks.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Jeff Eslick” by Jeff Eslick.
