A group consisting of downtown Nashville business owners and city officials have begun working together to improve the design of Lower Broadway.
Lower Broad in downtown is one of the hottest spots in the United States, and with it's popularity is coming growth, and a desire to make the area the best it can be.
The group has partnered with representatives from Gehl Studios, a world-wide group that focuses on urban design, to pinpoint improvements that could be made in the Lower Broadway area and put those changes into action using prototypes.
"Nashville and Lower Broadway in particular is teeming with public life, so our job isn't necessarily to attract more public life, it's to better accommodate and more appropriately accommodate the public life that's already here," Matthew Lister, Gehl Studio's New York director, said.
Most of the changes and ideas being discussed are small and easy to implement, such as adding more seating to areas of Broadway or adding more shade to areas, but if the ideas are seen as a success, they could be implemented throughout all of Broadway and throughout other parts of Davidson County.
The hope is that each one of the ideas can lead toward improvements that will continue to help Nashville thrive.
"We actually think if we do that, if we actually make it more comfortable for the people coming her, that we can continue to invite more people not just to Lower Broadway, but to the entire district as a whole," Lister said.
In the long run, Public Works, city officials, and business owners also hope to work the Cumberland River into the plans, as Nashville is currently a city with much of it's back toward the river.
Plans in the future could include reworking the riverfront, as well as improving the accessibility of 1st Avenue.
For more information on these pilot programs, visit the Metro Public Works website.
