It’s official: Choose How You Move will be on the November ballot

Mayor Freddie O'Connell's Choose How You Move Transportation Improvement Program will go on the November 5, 2024, ballot following approval by the Davidson County Election Commission Thursday night. Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety will remake Nashville's transportation system by building 86 miles of sidewalks - enough to stretch from Nashville to Cookeville, expanding transit to a 24/7/365 operation, increasing the frequency of transit service on Nashville's busiest roadways, increasing safety for all roadway users, and modernizing traffic signals at more than 600 intersections.

After Metro Council unanimously approved the ballot language, the Election Commission's vote marked the final step in placing a better transportation future in the hands of Nashville voters.

"Nashvillians, we've heard you. We can do better than our current transportation reality. For a decade, we conducted more than 70 transportation plans that got more than 66,000 opinions from residents. It's time to stop planning. It's time to start doing," Mayor Freddie O'Connell said. "This is about working families, letting people feel more connected as a community, and bringing down the cost of living so that we can more easily afford to live here."

Of the top 50 major American cities, Nashville is one of just four without dedicated funding for transportation improvements.

Mayor O'Connell continued, "As I said when we introduced the Choose How You Move program in April, this is how we stop kicking the can down the road on a problem and start moving forward on a solution."

The transportation referendum will appear on the same ballot as the presidential candidates and other races. Early voting will begin on October 16 and run through October 31 with election day occurring on November 5. At transit.nashville.gov, Nashvillians can see the program details down to the neighborhood street level with the help of interactive maps.

The following is a snapshot of what's included in Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety.

• 86 miles of sidewalk improvements. When combined with annual capital spending, this will complete the entire WalkNBike Nashville priority sidewalk network.
• 54 miles of upgraded corridors to provide faster, safer, and more reliable transit options.
• A transit system that runs 24/7/365 because Nashvillians don't just work from 9-to-5. That doubles the frequent service and adds nearly double the number of crosstown routes. Plus, there will be new express routes to get Nashvillians to popular locations more quickly.
• 12 community transit centers will connect to each other, so riders don't have to go downtown just to get to some other part of the city.
• 17 new park and ride facilities.
• 35 miles of upgraded and new bicycle facilities.
• And the thing that might help Nashvillians the most: upgrades to traffic signals at almost 600 intersections - two of every three signalized intersections in Nashville - to make sure we all hit more green lights. This will help people moving around the city whether they're walking, rolling, biking, taking transit, or driving.

Choose How You Move invests in all corners of the county (residents are encouraged to use the interactive maps to see what is coming to their neighborhood), and it allows the city to lower the cost of living for residents who are burdened by the implicit tax of having to own and maintain a car (AAA estimates that is $1,000 per month on average for residents).

"Since taking office, our team has used two goals to guide not only our work on transit but on all opportunities. Those goals are improving quality of life and lowering the cost of living for more Nashvillians. This program does both," Mayor O'Connell added.

Kraft CPAs, an independent certified public accounting firm, examined the Choose How You Move transportation improvement program's plan of finance and determined that the financing plan for the Program is feasible.

Below is the ballot language approved by Metro Council which will appear before Davidson County voters on the November ballot:

"Passage of this measure adopted by Ordinance BL2024-427, allows the Metropolitan Government to complete the entire priority sidewalk network when combined with annual capital spending, provide significantly expanded 24-hour public transportation service 365 days a year including frequent service on major routes, add more neighborhood transit centers, improve safety for all roadway users, and upgrade and modernize nearly two-thirds of the city's signalized intersections.

This program's capital cost is estimated to have a current cost of $3,096,000,000. Once construction is complete, the estimated value of recurring annual operating and maintenance costs is approximately $111,000,000. The Metropolitan Transit Authority (WeGo), Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure, Metro Planning Department, and Mayor's Office, in partnership with other Metro departments, will undertake implementation of the program.

This program will be funded by federal grants, revenues from transportation system fares, debt, and a sales tax surcharge of 0.5%. The tax surcharge will end once all debt issued for the transit improvement program has been paid and the Metropolitan Council determines by resolution that the revenues from the tax surcharges are no longer needed for operation of the program.

FOR or AGAINST"

Visit www.nashville.gov/transit to read the Choose How You Move program in detail, request a speaker for an upcoming meeting, to view interactive maps, and more. For voting locations and other election information visit vote.nashville.gov.

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