TSU hosts town hall meeting on mass transit in Nashville area

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University hosted a town hall meeting Thursday evening to discuss mass transit in the Nashville area.

Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, dean of TSU’s College of Engineering, talks about traffic concerns in Nashville. (Photo by John Cross, TSU Media Relations)

Television station WKRN held the meeting in the Floyd-Payne Campus Center to look at the ways Nashvillians are evolving in how they approach their daily commute.

“We’re glad that we were able to partner with Channel 2 to make the community more aware about what needs to be done, and how they can be a part of it,” said Kelli Sharpe, TSU’s assistant vice president of public relations and communications.

Nashville is in the midst of historic growth with dozens of new residents arriving daily, which impacts everyone as they traverse their way around the city to work, home and school, transit experts say.

Topics at the town hall included traffic congestion, expansion of mass transit and a proposal for a light-rail system.

A panel moderated by WKRN’s Bob Mueller provided most of the discussion. On the panel was Nashville Vice Mayor David Briley, State Sen. Bill Ketron, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, dean of TSU’s College of Engineering.

Hargrove said most Nashville residents believe something needs to be done to address the heavy traffic the city is experiencing, but they also realize that cost is a big factor.

“Generally speaking, the residents of Metropolitan Nashville are in favor of paying more for transportation,” Hargrove said after the meeting. “The question is, what would be the source for paying for that.”

Hargrove said TSU’s College of Engineering is “very engaged in the need to improve transportation.” Over the last several years, he said the College has had in excess of a million dollars in research, primarily funded from the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

He said one project the College is working on looks at traffic safety, and another is exploring ways to optimize the logistics of trucks, or freight, coming in and out of the city.

Last year, a team of six TSU graduate and undergraduate students, along with their professors from the Departments of Civil and Architectural Engineering, conducted a study on five bridges around the Nashville fairgrounds to assess their structural integrity.

The students’ findings were submitted to the city’s structural engineers and used to determine future use of the bridges.

To see the town hall meeting and stories about mass transit, visit http://wkrn.com/2017/06/29/town-hall-meeting-planes-trains-and-automobiles-at-630-p-m/.

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With more than 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 25 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.