Background
Since 2016, the Metro Nashville Sports Authority, in cooperation with Fairgrounds Nashville staff, has been leading the planning and design of a variety of transportation and utility improvements on the Fairgrounds Nashville campus to support Nashville’s new Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium (GEODIS Park), the newly constructed Expo Center, three multilevel parcels of a future mixed-use development, and Fair Park Phases I-II.
Overall, this expansive project involves modifications and enhancements to the Fairgrounds campus with the goal of improving quality of life for members of the surrounding communities, increasing economic activity, and creating a more sustainable environment. The improvements have resulted in a more vibrant and active Fairgrounds campus, connecting and uniting the surrounding neighborhoods rather than limiting them to the perimeter of the site. This improved connectivity also links points of interest in the area surrounding the Fairgrounds, including schools, churches, and small businesses.
The Site
The image shows a satellite map view of the following:
- GEODIS Park
- Fair Park
- Nashville Speedway
- Expo Center
- Mixed Use Parcels 8A, B and C
These are all located in the vicinity of these roads in Nashville:
- Craighead Street
- Bransford Avenue
- Benton Avenue
- Wedgewood Avenue
- Rains Avenue
- Nolensville Pike
Transportation and Multimodal Improvements
The extension of Wedgewood Avenue through the Fairgrounds campus provides a multimodal connection from the Nolensville Pike/Craighead Street areas to the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood and further west toward the I-65/8th Avenue South areas. This is the first multimodal connection through the Fairgrounds property that provides pedestrians and bicyclists with a dedicated route. Multimodal improvements include sidewalks separated from the travel lanes on both sides via a landscape buffer with street trees as well as a cycle track within the Wedgewood Avenue cross-section. This corridor extension also includes two mast-arm traffic signals equipped with the latest radar detection technology. Both will incorporate what is believed to be the first-ever dedicated and exclusive bicycle signal phasing in Nashville to provide exclusive right-of-way to bicyclists. Finally, this corridor includes a 185-foot-long curved bridge carrying four lanes of traffic, a cycle track, and two sidewalks over Browns Creek. The bridge also was designed to accommodate corridor lighting, a closed deck drainage system, and mounted fiber optic conduit for traffic signal communications to satisfy the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Metro Water Services (MWS) standards for crossing an active creek that frequently floods.
Benton Avenue is a pedestrian-focused and elaborately streetscaped corridor that will serve as the “front door” to the following land uses on the Fairgrounds campus:
- GEODIS Park (Home of MLS‘s Nashville Soccer Club (NSC))
- Three parcels for future multilevel mixed-use development
- The Nashville Speedway
It includes co-planar sections to provide greater focus to the pedestrian crossing zones along with bioswales incorporated into the landscaped elements between the back of curb and 8-foot sidewalks along both shoulders. The Benton Avenue streetscape also includes a bollard design along the frontage of the stadium and mixed-use parcels to provide additional pedestrian safety and security measures for the adjacent buildings/structures. Previously, this more than 140-acre, fenced-in property inhibited pedestrian access to the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. These multimodal enhancements and the pedestrian-focused streetscape allow for a more walkable and bikeable flow in and out of the Fairgrounds campus.
Both the Wedgewood Avenue extension and Benton Avenue provide on-street parking, street lighting (serving vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic), a variety of landscaping elements, and connectivity to the recently constructed Fairgrounds Expo Center.
Utility Improvements
From a utility perspective, the project provides upgraded public utilities for several uses on the Fairgrounds campus, including gas, water, sewer, electric, and telecommunications. The project provides utility hookups for food trucks used at Fairgrounds special events throughout the year. The modernization of the utilities across the site will allow the stadium and other Fairgrounds programming and events to be more efficient. These improvements also are designed to entice more event organizers to host events on the Fairgrounds campus.
Drainage and utility issues were solved during construction in real-time while connecting to and replacing portions of a more than 50-year-old critical storm and sanitary sewer infrastructure. This required coordination during design and construction to accommodate events happening frequently during the construction phase on the Fairgrounds property. The utility relocations were designed and phased during construction to maintain service to the Expo Center and Nashville Speedway and provide service to GEODIS Park before the first Nashville SC home game.
Progress and Updates
Currently, construction is complete with a preliminary punch list and walk-through inspection completed in February 2023. Later in the spring of this year—once the various plantings and landscaping has bloomed—a final walk-through will occur, and the project will be officially completed.
Team Members and Stakeholders
The team members and stakeholders involved throughout the planning, design, and construction phases of this campuswide project include:
Stakeholders
- Metro Nashville Sports Authority (contracting agency)
- The Fairgrounds Nashville
- Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT)
- Metro Nashville Planning Department
- MWS
- Metro Nashville General Services (ADA compliance team)
- Metro’s Program Management Team
GHP, Inc. (overseeing design)
Capital Project Solutions (CPS), Inc. (monitoring construction) - Mixed-Use Development Team (MarketStreet Equities)
- USACE
- NSC
- Mortensen-Messer (GEODIS Park construction contractor)
- Bell Construction Company (Metro’s Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) contractor)
Design Team
- Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. (lead consultant)
- Barge-Cauthen & Associates, Inc.
- Hawkins Partners, Inc.
- RaganSmith Associates, Inc.
- Terracon
Utility Providers
- Nashville Electric Service
- AT&T
- Duke Energy
- Verizon
- Comcast
Cost
For more information on this project’s cost visit the Investor Relations page.
Awards
Recipient of the ACEC Tennessee 2022 Engineering Excellence Awards Honor Award, Special Projects – Large Category
Recipient of the Urban Land Institute Nashville 2023 Excellence in Development Awards in the $15 million or More Public Development Project Category