Swope offers another Nashville transit plan: Autonomous vehicles, stacked interstates

On the eve of early voting for the $5.4 billion "Let's Move Nashville" transit plan, Metro Councilman Robert Swope presented an alternative vision for Nashville mobility that includes double-stacked interstates and autonomous vehicles.

Called, "Intelligent Transit," Swope's plan relies on fleets of automated bus-size and personal, electric vehicles, dedicated lanes for the fleets, three double-stacked interstates in the downtown corridor, a relocated Music City Central bus station and 34 regional transit centers.

The plan could be implemented in five years and would cost $1.65 billion, he said.

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"The technology is here," Swope said. "The technology will be implemented within the next 12 months not 12 years. Do we spend an enormous amount of money on a fixed transit system which will take 15 to 20 years to construct and in-debt our city for decades to come or do we embrace the future, embrace what is here and now?"

Swope did not provide a breakdown of prices and did not provide an estimate on buying fleets of automated vehicles, but said double-stacking the interstates would cost about $900 million.

About $400 million would fall on Middle Tennessee taxpayers.

$700 million would fall on the federal government

The state would cover about $150 million

Private entities would cover about $400 million under a private-public partnership model, he said.

The automated vehicle fleets would be managed by the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Regional Transit Authority and the automated personal vehicles would serve as last-mile, first-mile options, according to the plan.

Swope emphasized the importance of creating a regional plan that can be approved in entirety from the onset. The "Let's Move Nashville" plan is limited to Davidson County, but regional leaders have described it as the first step in the region's long-term strategy.

"The construction of light rail to service a relatively small portion of Davidson County does not take one commuter from Rutherford, Williamson, Wilson, Sumner, or any other county, off the streets of our great city," Swope said.

'Let's Move Nashville' rep: 'This isn't a plan, it's a sham'

Transit for Nashville spokeswoman Kelly Brockman said the plan is self-contradictory and questioned the timing of its release.

"This isn't a plan, it's a sham," Brockman said in an emailed statement. "The fact that this self-contradictory proposal comes out one day before early voting begins speaks volumes. This is a last-gasp diversion and voters will see right through it. Swope calls for billions of dollars to double-deck our highways on one hand, while calling for driverless vehicles that would eliminate the need for those new roads on the other. Only one plan is on the ballot May 1. It's been years in the making and addresses Nashville's traffic problems, it doesn't mock them."

Paul Doherty, an architect and developer of city solutions, introduced parts of Swope's plan. Music City Central bus terminal would need to be relocated because of its inconvenient location, he said, recommending the PSC Metals site south of First Tennessee Park.

Double-stacking downtown interstates would help address the number of commuters traveling through downtown who do not need to exit, Swope said. The second level would eliminate exits for surface streets, increasing traffic flow through downtown and reducing 35 percent of vehicles off those congested areas, according to Swope and Doherty.

"We are effectively routing these travelers over our city with no exits available to congest the surface streets," Doherty said.

24/7 service, flexible routes key to Swope's plan

The plan would provide 24-hour a day service, year-round, with service available in 15-minute intervals, Doherty said. It would include autonomous, electric rapid service on major freeway corridors, including I-40, I-24, I-440 and I-65, through dedicated lanes and would require state implementation.

Routes could be easily altered, as opposed to fixed light rail lines that require significant infrastructure, and the regular service would reduce the number of vehicles traveling downtown, Doherty said.

Seven corridors, including Charlotte Pike, Murfreesboro Pike, Gallatin Road and West End Avenue, would have regular automated bus services offered in a widened center lane.

For last mile, first mile transit, a corporate-operated fleet service would provide rides to transit centers for a fee, and costs would be shared with MTA, Doherty said.

"Without the need for fixed infrastructure, intelligent transit plans provide every rider with practically endless options for transit," Doherty said. "Quality and independence in transit becomes a reality for everyone in Nashville in a matter of two to five years."

Lewis Fulton, who teaches at the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis, said stacking interstates could cost billions, depending on the extent.

"That’s just making more room for more cars," he said. "It sounds like a very expensive project to add capacity for cars at a moment when we are hoping we don’t need so much capacity for cars."

Paul Lewis, policy vice president at Eno Center for Transportation in Washington, D.C., said double-stacking highways is rare because of its costs, which typically exceed highway expansion costs.

"You are basically building a bridge on a freeway," Lewis said. "At the same time, we see time and time again when cities try to expand their highway capacity, it does nothing to solve congestion."

While pilots of automated shuttles are underway, they are not ready for commercial use, Lewis said. Whether they will be available in five years is unclear.

"It's hard to know because it doesn’t exist," he said. "Until a Google or a Ford or an Uber starts really selling this in a real sense, we can't really predict it."

Aaron Renn, a fellow at conservative think tank Manhattan Institute, said he is skeptical about investing in large-scale infrastructure, both highway and rail systems, given the unknowns surrounding autonomous vehicles. But, he also cautioned against making plans based on them.

"It is certainly a consideration for Nashville what is going to happen with these autonomous vehicles and the potential role they might play in the future, but they are not here yet, in terms of just ordering driverless buses and cars and somehow use technology to route them," he said. "I don’t think that is something that can be done in the present."

Reach Jamie McGee at 615-259-8071 and on Twitter @JamieMcGee_.