The South Corridor Study is intended to develop a series of short-, mid-, and long-term recommendations to implement a vision for transportation and rapid transit between Nashville, Berry Hill, Oak Hill, Brentwood, Franklin, Thompson’s Station, Spring Hill, and Columbia, as well as other neighborhoods, communities, employment centers, and destinations along the south corridor.
Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) along the corridor currently (2016) ranges from 124,764 between the downtown loop and Wedgewood Avenue to 181,300 just north of Old Hickory Boulevard to 58,354 just south of Interstate 840, near Thompson’s Station and Spring Hill. Current travel time from Franklin to the Nashville Central Business District (CBD) is 29 minutes (2010) and from Spring Hill to the Nashville CBD is 36 minutes (2010). According to the Statewide Travel Demand Model, based on projected growth patterns, these travel times will double to 59 minutes (a 103 percent increase) and 64 minutes (a 78 percent increase), respectively, by 2040. Throughout the corridor, single occupancy vehicles are the primary mode of transportation, comprising well over 80 percent of the traffic and contributing to the congestion problem.
The traffic counts and current and future travel times are indicative of the employment and activity centers that are located along the South Corridor. These destinations, such as downtown Nashville, One Hundred Oaks Mall, the Brentwood Town Center, the Cool Springs area, and the GM Spring Hill Plant, are all major employment and activity centers that are reliant on moving people and goods efficiently and effectively in the South Corridor. In addition, critical to understanding the current and future needs in the South Corridor is acknowledgment that reverse commuting and suburban to suburban commuting to these destinations is becoming increasingly more common as growth continues to expand throughout Middle Tennessee. Also important is that trips related to recreation, shopping, or other activities, far outweigh the home to work and work to home trips that occur on a daily basis.