Nashville transit referendum clears final hurdle, will appear on November ballot

Nashville's transit referendum cleared its final hurdle on Thursday to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.

After the Metro Nashville Council unanimously approved the referendum's ballot language last month, the last step was the sign-off of the Davidson County Election Commission.

“After considering the legal opinions of both the state election coordinator and the Metro Legal department, the election commission voted unanimously on a bipartisan basis to place the transit referendum on the ballot for a vote of the people," Davidson County Election Chairman Jim DeLanis said on Thursday.

Mayor Freddie O'Connell has made transit the signature issue of his first year in office. His administration faced a tight timeline to develop a plan and get it approved in time to go before voters during a presidential election year.

The referendum would create dedicated funding for transit projects through a half-cent sales tax increase . The $3.1 billion “Choose How You Move” plan would double the number of crosstown bus routes, extend bus service hours and connect 12 community bus transit centers to each other, so riders will not have to travel downtown to get to other parts of the city.

Also included in the plan are:

• 592 replaced or upgraded smart traffic signals that can adapt based on demand and work with a forthcoming traffic management center
• 285 upgraded bus stops
• 17 new park-and-ride facilities
• 86 miles of sidewalk improvements
• 65 new buses
• 54 miles of upgraded road corridors
• 35 miles of new and upgraded bike lanes

“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," O'Connell said in a Thursday statement.

Rachel Wegner contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville transit referendum clears final hurdle, will appear on November ballot