Ascend Greenway

[Carey Rogers]

BPAC should get a presentation from Gaylord and Parks on  the plans.

A lot of us have advocated for changes about this for years. Thanks to Freddie for making it happen.

MAKING MUSIC: Metro has reached a 10-year deal with Grand Ole Opry and Ryman owner Opry Entertainment Group to manage Ascend Amphitheater, following its selection over incumbent Live Nation and AEG earlier this year. As part of the agreement, announced by Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Friday, Opry will spend at least $11 million on facility improvements and up to $1.1 million to relocate and upgrade the greenway that runs through the amphitheater. Opry had proposed a bid of $41.17 million over 10 years to take over the facility, the largest of the three contenders. The public greenway has been frequently closed under Live Nation management. — Stephen Elliott

Sent from my iPhone.

[Robert Johnson]

Thanks Carey. This is important. Ryman will want to try and minimize the importance of this in order to minimize expenditure on it, which is the strategy Live Nation used and resulted in the existing poor design in the first place. 

Ryman have contributed almost exactly nothing to the sorely needed Greenway extension to Opry Mills, which is waiting for federal funding (so that might be a while), so they have a track record of not taking peds and cyclists seriously. 

This is a major gap in the Music City Bikeway, and will remain so if we don't keep the pressure on. 

My personal recommendations would be:

1. BPAC and WBN and NDOT Ped/Bike Planning team must all be consulted and have right of veto at project kick-off, concept, detailed design and diversion plan design phases, in addition to Parks. If they or Parks complain that is unreasonable, ask them why?
2. Above parties to also see the operations plan for the stadium. Will load-in, event security, and load-out really be able to be separated from the Greenway operations? Prove that to the above parties, not just Parks.
3. Assuming they are unable to do 2. above they should be asked to have a closure monitoring process, designed in collaboration with and agreed by, all the above parties. That should that sets targets for keeping the Greenway open, and explain how they will monitor themselves against it, and list what penalties would be appropriate (paying Parks per hour of closure? Increasingly elaborate alternative Greenway routes to be provided during future closures?) if they fail to meet those targets. Diversionary routes should be proposed, and agreed by the above parties as 8 - 80 suitable.
4. We endured the over 50% closure time resulting from the previous design and agreement (Daniel McDonel did the seminal study of the exact percentage of time the Greenway was closed), and then we endured the two year closure for the construction of Peabody Union. So no, Parks supervision of this issue is not proven to be sufficient, and yes, we are sensitive to the subject of private businesses having closure power over what we were told was (and we subsidized as) a public Greenway and park. The above requests 1 - 3 must be read in light of this. I appreciate it is not Rymans fault that there is low trust, but that is the situation they have signed up for.
5. They will say the new design will never require Greenway closure. Let's all see the design, and stadium operations plan, before we believe them.

I represent WeGo on BPAC. The above views are mine alone, and are not the views of WeGo. I will not be able to voice the above at BPAC, because I don't believe it is really possible for me to express these personal opinions while also representing WeGo. If anyone else wants to express these opinions at BPAC, I would be happy for them to do so.

[carey rogers]

The contract is on the council calendar tomorrow night for first reading. Discussion usually occurs at second reading which would be  Oct 9. 

Exhibits A-1  and C include the layout of the greenway after $1 million of renovation. It looks like they're going to build a bridge of some sort and plant some trees. The Parks rep at BPAC knew almost nothing about the details.  I'm not sure why he showed up. Hopefully, BPAC will receive more information in the near future.

https://nashville.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7653773&GUID=CCDD4F4C-23CF-4870-B618-EA42FCB18551

Copy of the contract with appendices. 

https://nashville.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=14766546&GUID=E0242DC6-27D8-4C73-A28E-DD2C0F97BEAD

It includes the following language.

26. Greenway. Manager agrees to invest up to a maximum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) in capital improvements to relocate, enhance and/or upgrade the greenway bordering the Amphitheater (the “Greenway”), and an additional up to one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) on associated design work pursuant to the Greenway solution and investment set forth in Exhibit C.

 Manager acknowledges that the City’s Greenway system is a critical public amenity, and that a portion of the Greenway is located along the eastern and western boundaries of the Amphitheater premises. Accordingly, Manager agrees as follows: 

a. Continuous Public Access: Manager shall ensure that the Greenway remains open and accessible to the public at all times, including during Concert Events, Civic Events (whether Fixed or Non-Fixed), Symphony Events, Manager-Promoted Community Events, Private Events, load-in, load-out, and any other events or other Amphitheater-related operations. 

b. No Obstruction: Manager shall not permit any event-related structures, staging, fencing, vehicles, or personnel to obstruct, block, reroute, or otherwise interfere with public access to the Greenway at any time, subject to the limitation in section (c) below. 

c. Design and Operational Modifications: Manager shall implement all necessary physical modifications and operational changes, including but not limited to secure fencing, traffic routing, access control measures, and alternative service paths, to ensure continuous and safe public use of the Greenway. Any proposed modifications shall be subject to review and approval by City. 

d. Construction Periods: In the event that temporary closures of the Greenway are necessary due to construction or capital improvements, such closures shall be (i) limited in duration and scope, (ii) subject to prior written approval by the City (or Parks Director), and (iii) accompanied by clearly marked detour signage to facilitate continued path of mobility. 

e. Compliance and Monitoring: Manager shall coordinate with the City to establish procedures for monitoring compliance with this Section, and shall promptly address any issues or complaints related to Greenway access.

[John Norris]

BPAC might want to consider a site visit.

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[Robert Johnson]

Wow, that bridge is definitely $1M of infrastructure! 

That contract is good, except for the one, glaring, and very important omission - I don't see a timeline attached to the construction of the route! It's a 10 year contract, and I don't see anything in the contract to stop them "planning" the Greenway diversion for 9 1/2 years. 

In case you think that omission is an accident by Opry Mills, they have made sure to also include a map in the contract that clearly indicates the existing Greenway can continue to be closed during events, exactly as it is now.

So over to Parks to get them to actually do it anytime soon. Hopefully I've missed something...

I have a favorite bogeyman on this topic, and it's a Major Projects Manager who Metro used to hire frequently, named Ron Gobbell. He represented Metro's interests (including Parks and Greenways) during the planning of the amphitheatre. He not only designed this Greenway on the wrong side of the amphitheater fence, but he went ahead and made exactly the same mistake with the Greenway at The Sounds stadium, which I believe has also taken years to not fully rectify. 

$1M to rectify, 10 years (and counting)...it's fun to be able to quantify the cost of rectifying all those weekends when I turned up at the end of KVB bridge with my children on bikes on a Saturday and discovered that I had to cross all 6 lanes of KVB because the Greenway and underpass was closed for 3 days. So glad it will be fixed - within the next decade.

[Carey Rogers]

I’m hopeful that BPAC will monitor the plans and implementation by Gaylord. Of course the Greenways Commission should take the lead but they are incredibly passive about the best interest of their users. 

It would be great if there was a staff person in the Mayors office to monitor bike ped issues and staff BPAC. They could be involved in issues like this and help keep us all informed. I hear there is a new source of funding for transportation available to help us Choose How to Move.

On Sep 18, 2025, at 8:27 PM, Robert Johnson <railr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Wow, that bridge is definitely $1M of infrastructure! 

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