All Feature Articles

Amazon Grows in Ever Expanding Nashville Urban Jungle

by Rich and Laura Lynch

It takes only one look at the "Nashville Crane Watch" to understand that the five-year trend of unconstrained growth in Music City remains unabated. One of the most anticipated construction projects called Nashville Yards is well underway in the Gulch at the former home of Lifeway Christian Resources.

Amazon Grows in Ever Expanding Nashville Urban Jungle
Nashville Yards grows from the ground up in the ever-expanding Music City landscape.

Nashville Yards - already referred to as the "gateway to downtown" - will eventually become a 17-acre downtown district with shops, restaurants, entertainment venues, apartments, offices and hotels. The flagship operations that will help define the community will be the Amazon Center of Excellence along with a stunning 25-floor Grand Hyatt Hotel that will itself house a new 4,000 seat entertainment venue.

Amazon Nashville will be located downtown at the future site of Nashville Yards and will create 5,000 jobs. These new career opportunities will include a mix of technical roles such as Software Development Engineers and non-technical roles for candidates at all skill and education levels. In addition to direct positions at Amazon, the company expects that their $230 million investment will help create thousands of additional jobs in areas like construction, building services, hospitality and retail.

Also, the online behemoth is expected to erect a new warehouse a few miles southeast of the city in Mt Juliet. The proposed plan calls for a 3.6 million square foot, five-story industrial building that will accommodate an 80,000 square foot facility and more than 1,200 hundred jobs are expected along with it.

While that's all well and good none of this seems to address the other thing Nashville in now known for as much as hot chicken and country music. Has anyone seen the traffic in this town lately? Regular blue-collar Nashvillians experience a terribly broken and a snarled morning and afternoon rush hour every working day of the year - with no relief anywhere in sight.

Nashville residents have already rejected an ill-conceived $5.4 billion plan that would have taken 25 years to implement and was offering only a few short routes that would have run an outdated slow rail-line on top of the city's already congested roads. Surely, there has got to be another way.

Taking a lead from Amazon we looked to the Internet for examples and possible solutions to the gnarly Nashville gridlock. Music City is relatively small and that limited space is already extremely built out to accommodate the exceptional growth that's here and still coming. The Cumberland River and inter-states that wrap the metropolis also provide a unique set of problems that make any type of people moving improvements extremely challenging.

But, then we discovered many advanced "city building" video games and online simulations that have become very popular in recent years. Many of them involve the overlaying of a "monorail" system on top of existing city layouts to ease traffic burdens and improve the overall flow. Perhaps a coordinated effort by some of the best minds in local urban planning could take a look at these programs to see if they might point a way to a long-term fix that uses technology while providing a modern transportation solution. Heck, Amazon knows a considerable amount about moving packages and they stand a lot to gain from providing their future employees an enjoyable experience in Music City. Maybe moving people isn't that much different? They should get on this now!

Even better, the school children in Nashville and surrounding regions have the most to gain from improving the blight of our ongoing urban sprawl and they have the most to lose by their elder's incompetence and inability to prepare for the outsider invasion that has occurred here. A well-considered curriculum should put this issue front and center in our school systems and our youngest Nashvillians would be getting a valuable education in civics, society and urban planning that will serve them well for the rest of their days.

It's their future after all and they are the ones who are going to have to deal with the big mess that all this out of control construction and growth has created. I'll be the first one with a ticket in my hand. Bring on the Music City Monorail system.


Is the Music City Monorail the answer to our traffic woes?

Related Links: For more information on NASHVILLE YARDS and the other organizations mentioned please visit the following links -- Nashville Yards | Nashville Crane Watch


.







Do you like MCN??? Did you know that the easiest way to support this site is to BUY our founder's DEBUT ALBUM on BANDCAMP? At check out you can even throw in a bit more to really say "we appreciate you"! Thanks!!!












Rhiannon Giddens and Silkroad Ensemble Bring American Railroad to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville



Country Superstar Ronnie McDowell Opens the Troubadour VIP Lounge in the Music Valley



Judah & the Lion Wrap Up Opening Leg of The Process Tour with a Joyous Hometown Show at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium



Another Festive Night on the Farm with Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Don Schlitz and Stephanie Chapman



Checking Out the Music City Greenways With a Little Help From the Nashville Public Library



It Was Great to See Tom Petty Again in Nashville



There Were Thousands of Reasons to Visit Cheekwood Harvest in Nashville



Grand Ole Opry Community Day Provides Local Residents with 99 Reasons to Smile in Nashville



Celebrating 65 Years of FAME and The Muscle Shoals Sound in Huntsville



Songwriter Tim O'Connell Completes His Trilogy at The Shelby in Nashville



Comedian Steve Goodie is Good and Funny in Nashville



AmericanaFest in Nashville - Silver Anniversary Edition Exceeds Expectations as Genre and Gender Bending Celebration Expands Footprint in Music City



The Nashville Film Festival Challenges Conventions and Breaks Down Barriers on Opening Night at Belcourt Theatre in Hillsboro Village



The Catio Has a Spirited and Fantastic Feline Friendly Day at Their First Craft, Food & Adoption Fair in Music Valley



Consensus Grows and Coalitions Form As Greater Nashville Music Census Results Are Released Downtown



A Grand Time Was Had at Opry Country Classics in Nashville



Kentucky's Wayne Graham Debut Their Ninth Studio Album Bastion at Bastion in Nashville



Marc Martel Brings His One Vision of Queen to The Fisher Center For a Second Sensational Time in Nashville



Matthew Sweet Is the Cat's Meow at Nashville Sunday Night Live Radio Broadcast From 3rd & Lindsley



UK Legends Squeeze Have Several Reasons to Celebrate at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville





Dan Tyminski - Live From The Ryman



Kim Richey - Every New Beginning



Jack McKeon - Talking to Strangers



Avery Anna - Mood Swings



Dex Green - Imaginary War



Jon Muq - Flying Away



Don McLean - American Boys



Jason Minton - Rock Collection



Chris BadNews Barnes - BadNews Travels Fast



Rick Monroe & The Hitmen - Six Gun Soul





• Meet Rich and Laura Lynch.

© 2024 MusicCityNashville.net
All Rights Reserved