Nashville has earned a lot of nicknames: Music City, Athens of the South, Nash Vegas, but due to all the construction in the area and road closures, it was soon to get a new nickname.
"Nashville, where your old shortcuts go to die," Peter Curtis of Maury County said.
Curtis works in Nashville and said that construction around town has made it a nightmare to navigate through the city.
"They're shutting down entire streets for months on end," Curtis explained. "It's absurd."
Most agreed that traffic has gotten worse in Nashville from all the people moving to the area. Road closures have become the norm due to all o the new buildings popping up, whether they be businesses, condos, or apartments.
"The traffic is bad enough, but it seems like it's 100 fold worse because of all the blockages everywhere," Corrine Champigny of West Nashville said.
According to the Mayor's Office, this was a reality that Nashvillians would have to accept, but they were working on ways to help drivers avoid closures by using new technologies, and even changing the city's permitting and fee structures for third party use of public right-of-ways, a welcome message from those who encounter these problem areas, impacting their commutes.
"I literally could not get home, every street was blocked off," Lisa Zhito of Green Hills said of a recent commute.
Zhito said she confronted companies putting in fiber cables, new construction project,s and sewer projects all during her drive from the store back to her home.
"I finally yelled at the poor cop who was directing traffic, saying, 'How do I get home? How do I get home? I've tried'," Zhito explained.
The struggle that many have faced was that they may have to accept that this would be the new norm in Nashville.
Metro Nashville Police as well as Nashville Fire Department officials said that the road closures and lane closures have not negatively impacted their response times, as they are aware of the closures and make sure to avoid them while responding to calls.
