Implementation Timeline of New Guidelines and Grace Period
Scoping Form A
Starting on Monday, October 2, 2023, all new developments submitting a Scoping Form A shall use the new form. These submittals should be sent to Nashville Department of Transportation Multimodal Transportation Analysis Review: ndotmmtareview@nashville.gov.
Multimodal Transportation Analyses
All studies that submit their Scoping Form A on and after October 2, 2023, shall follow the new MMTA Guidelines.
Grace Period
Any scoping forms submitted prior to October 2 that followed the previous format will have until December 31, 2023, to submit a fully completed study per the previous guideline and Interim Instructional Bulletin.
Starting January 1, 2024, all studies submitted to NDOT for review must follow the new MMTA Guidelines.
Project Timeline
The phases of the project are shown below, with three key opportunities for stakeholder discussion and feedback.
Full project schedule from October 2022 to October 2023. The four tasks included in project schedule (in the order of completion) are existing assessment, interim instructional bulletin, policy and process revisions, and digital solution development. Existing Conditions and Peer Research October 2022 through January 2023, Interim Instructional Bulletin November 2022 through early-March 2023, Policy and Process Revisions mid-January 2023 through August 2023, Digital Solution Development May 2023 through October 2023. Guideline released for public review mid-August. Third and final stakeholder meeting in early September.
Project Background
Since 2004, Nashville has undergone enormous development changes and made significant investment in bicycle, pedestrian, and public transit infrastructure, while new mobility-as-a-service (MAAS) technologies such as ridesharing and e-scooters have become an integral part of Nashville’s transportation ecosystem. This project’s goal has been to modernize the Traffic Impact Study Guidelines to align with existing mobility trends and current best practices to assist the Nashville Department of Transportation in building out a safe, efficient, and sustainable transportation network for all travel modes.
What was Reviewed
The 2004 Traffic Impact Study (TIS) Guidelines and Scoping Form, served as the requirements and constraints that developers must follow as they evaluate the impact of new development on the surrounding transportation network. Beginning in October 2022, the Nashville Department of Transportation and the consultant team, Arcadis, reviewed the existing guideline, the existing code (17.20.140), conducted an existing assessment review, and analyzed various transportation-related vision plans to help shape what the new guideline would look like. The Nashville Department of Transportation also worked with a broad range of stakeholders to assist in the modernization of the Traffic Impact Study Guidelines, associated review processes, and related codes/legislature. The stakeholders included the following groups: Metro Planning, Metro Legal, Metro Parks, Nashville Connector, Metro Information Technology Services, Metro’s Traffic and Parking Commission, Nashville Department of Transportation’s Vision Zero team, WeGo, the Sustainability team in the Mayor’s Office, external Engineering Consultant Firms who complete Traffic Impact Studies, the development community, NAIOP members, ULI members, Walk Bike Nashville, Tennessee Department of Transportation, and Neighbor2Neighbor.
The five main objectives of this project:
- Evaluate the requirements of existing guidelines and codes against major peer cities nationally.
- Seek feedback from stakeholders including elected officials, planners, traffic/transportation engineers, developers, and consultant teams.
- Develop a modernized guideline with associated code changes to align with Nashville Department of Transportation’s mobility goals and account for the diversity of modal split, intensity of development, and current best practices.
- Align the associated Metro code with the updated guideline.
- Prepare tools to assist Nashville Department of Transportation, developers, and consultants in streamlining the Traffic Impact Study process and managing data in a more efficient way.
Multimodal Transportation Analysis Guideline Release
The Multimodal Transportation Analysis (MMTA) Guideline was completed in August 2023 as the draft final guideline for public review. The final stakeholder meeting took place on September 6, 2023, and the project team received public comments until September 13, 2023, for implementation of feedback into the final Multimodal Transportation Analysis Guideline document. The final document was released on September 27, 2023.