Capital Projects Committee recommends 2025–2035 Transportation Capital Improvement Plan to BOMA

The Capital Projects Committee voted unanimously to approve the methodology and criteria used to develop the draft 2025–2035 Transportation Capital Improvement Plan and recommended that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen adopt the plan.

The committee approved a data‑driven prioritization system staff used to rank projects across the city, then discussed funding sources, anticipated growth, and specific near‑term projects. Keith Free, planning director, opened the staff presentation, saying the plan process “started back in February, 1st of 2024,” and described a final draft that staff had presented to the committee for comment and recommendation.

Why it matters: the plan lays out a 10‑year, fiscally constrained program of street, safety and access‑management projects that staff will use in conversations with the Greater Nashville Regional Council (GNRC), the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and other agencies when seeking outside funding. Committee members said the methodology will be the city’s “foundation” for prioritizing transportation capital requests and grant applications.

Staff framed three primary goals: decrease congestion, improve safety, and improve circulation. Jesse Eckneroff, the city’s chief of operations, described geographic constraints the plan must work around—waterways, rail lines and clusters of traffic signals—and said those barriers shaped staff recommendations about where to seek capacity and access improvements. “Between the waterways, the rail barrier, and all the traffic lights … there are considerable constraints,” Eckneroff said.

The plan uses weighted criteria to rank projects: safety (30%), city cost (20%), constructability (15%), traffic flow (15%), average daily traffic (10%) and proximity to critical facilities (10%). Staff said the process was informed by public input (an online survey and comments gathered during outreach) and a third‑party review of the ranking methodology.

Committee members pressed staff on funding and schedule questions for specific projects. Sarah Locke, director of public works (staff), told the committee the Exit 8 project was allocated roughly $35,000,000 in TDOT’s 10‑year plan but that adding federal funds required updated NEPA work and temporarily paused right‑of‑way offers: “With the application of federal dollars … we now have to go back and redo NEPA,” she said. That change, she said, has delayed final right‑of‑way activity and could push parts of the schedule beyond earlier estimates.

Committee members also asked about GNRC (Greater Nashville Regional Council) programming and how GNRC projects typically split funding (staff reiterated that many GNRC projects are roughly 80% federal/regionally administered funds and 20% local match). Staff agreed to prepare the city’s list of GNRC project applications and return to the committee so BOMA members can review and provide input before GNRC’s next call for projects.

Votes at a glance: the committee approved the methodology and criteria used to produce the plan and voted to recommend the draft plan to BOMA. The committee also approved a procedural amendment to the meeting agenda and made a separate procedural swap of two tied project ranks after a short motion to break a tie.

Next steps: staff will present the draft plan to BOMA (with a publicly advertised hearing to allow additional comments), prepare GNRC application materials for the next TIP call, and follow the timeline in the presentation for right‑of‑way, design and grant applications. Staff also said it will move next to an impact‑fees study and a facilities assessment once the plan and impact‑fee work are complete.

The capital projects methodology and criteria approved by the committee will remain a working document, staff said, and project rankings may be adjusted in future iterations as new data, funding or project‑level studies become available.