The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee); November 25, 2005 Friday 1st Edition“Landport waits to hum as commuter hub”

There are padlocked gates instead of buses along the empty gray ramps of the Clement Landport in downtown Nashville. And judging from the excessive droppings, the onlycommuters using the alternative transportation facility are birds.

That picture represents a stark contrast to what once was envisioned as the hub of a bustling regional passenger system -- one that would integrate bus service, commercialand light rail, car and van pools, bicyclists, airport and hotel shuttles and a possible returnof Amtrak.It was to be the central stop for commuters or visitors coming in and out of the city and aone-stop link to all other modes of transportation -- a small version of Grand CentralStation in New York City.

The now-vacant landport, built for $4.6 million primarilywith federal funds, can be seen as either a facility primed for the emergence of alternative transportation or an ill-timed, misguided project destined for civiceyesore status.

"I'm not worried about whether people view it as a waste of money or a misguidedvision," said Bob Clement, the former congressman who helped get the federalappropriation to build it. The facility bears his name."It's going to happen," Clement said of a Nashville public transportation heyday, "andwhen it does, we've already got a central transit center in place." The landport, behind Nashville's Union Station, rests on concrete stilts between 10th and 12th avenues, andrises above 11th Avenue and several sets of train tracks in the Gulch below.While the road to landport construction was smooth -- funds secured, contracts signedand construction completed in less than three years -- a bumpy ride followed. A notable pothole was this year's demolition of the Demonbreun Street viaduct, where the landport'saccess ramps were connected. In 2002, Metro was forced to close the overpass to allheavy vehicles, including buses, because of safety concerns. That forced the MetroTransit Authority to reroute the 15 daily buses that served the landport and close its officethere.Clement and other supporters originally hoped MTA would use the landport as areplacement for the overcrowded Deaderick Street terminus, which is the hub for nearlyall MTA bus routes in and out of downtown. "I personally like the landport concept, butwe won't use the landport as an expansion site for our operations," said Paul Ballard,MTA's chief executive officer, adding that MTA is looking to expand its existingdowntown hub on Deaderick.Ballard said MTA would adjust routes to serve the landport if needed but thinks anyfuture for the facility hinges on the miles and miles of steel rail that run alongside it.

"The (commuter) trains have to come," Ballard said. "If they don't, I'm not sure thelandport will have much value."Commuter rail planners have traveled their own rocky road but are just months awayfrom christening the eastern leg of the Music City Star. The line will link Nashville andLebanon but end at a new riverfront station at the foot of Broadway, blocks away fromthe landport.The landport does, however, rate a mention as part of a proposed future line. "We areincluding Clement Landport as a possible stop as part of the southeast corridor transitstudy currently under way," said transit planner James McAteer of the MetropolitanPlanning Organization. Clement's hope is that the southeast corridor will run right up tothe landport, along with northeastern, southern and southwestern corridors.But Regional Transit Authority officials cautioned that no decisions have been madeabout where the lines would run and where the trains would stop, because the projectremains in the conceptual stage.They agree the landport could be a logical place for trains to stop, since it is alongsideexisting CSX lines that rail planners want to tap into. The eastern leg runs on a Nashville& Eastern rail line."CSX has the majority of the rail lines, and we need to go through CSX to makecommuter rail happen," said Bill Farquhar, RTA's director of commuter rail. He said hecould see the landport becoming viable if the rail project runs on or near an existing CSXline.But even if the commuter rail system doesn't jump-start the landport, the facility couldstill offer value, supporters say. "Look, rail is important, but what's more crucial ismodality," said Clement, referring to combining various modes of transportation: shuttles,van pools, light rail, commuter rail, buses, etc. "We need to rebuild our transportationinfrastructure in this country," and the landport can be a key part of that type of change,he added.Few question Clement's resolve. For 15 years, until 2003, he occupied the 5th Districtcongressional seat in Washington, serving on the Transportation and InfrastructureCommittee, which included stints on railroad and highways and transit subcommittees. Inthe early 1990s, he helped rewrite a national transportation formula for determiningwhere federal funds go."Tennessee was a 'giveback' state, and we had to change that formula. The state wouldsend more money to Washington than it got back," he said. "Once the formula waschanged, the federal transportation funding jumped from $360 million to $740 million."Clement then tapped into that pot for landport funding. "Now with money for Tennessee,the issue becomes where to spend it," said Clement. "It needs to be spent wisely andwhere growth is." The area around the landport, known as the Gulch, is primed for growth, which could bode well for a landport resurrection, according to MTA's Ballard.

"The Demonbreun viaduct is being built, and the Gulch development is really taking off,so my take on this is all the pieces are there to make a transportation hub work perfectly,"he said. While the landport was built in what appears to be a most logical location, itsfate could have been much different."I had to fight to get it built next to the rails," said Clement. He eventually won the battlewith former Mayor Phil Bredesen, who thought it should be built at Fifth andDemonbreun to tie in to his downtown arena plan for the site that's now home of theGaylord Entertainment Center. A smaller MTA transit port later was built at that location.The landport's best hope now is success of the commuter rail system, which hinges on theoutcome of difficult negotiations to gain access to rail lines privately owned by CSX. "Ithink CSX will come around and be a good corporate citizen," Clement said. "They haveto understand they are not just in the rail business; they are in the transportation business."The last battle would be selling the grand plan of an interlinking transit hub to the public, proponents say. In a region where the "car is king," according to McAteer, getting peopleto buy into alternative modes of travel won't be easy."We are breaking down some misconceptions about alternative transportation," Clementsaid. "It will take persistence, but anybody who knows me knows that's not a problem." oLife of the landportOnce tabbed as the "structure to take Nashville into the 21st century" by the city nativewhose name adorns it, the Clement Landport was envisioned as the hub of a regionalintermodal passenger system. On three acres between 10th and 11th avenues directly behind Union Station and just west of Cummins Station, the multilevel facility was builtto provide links for commuter rail, car and van pools, local and regional buses, hotel andairport shuttles, bicyclists and the possible return of interstate passenger rail.Key events in the life of the landport:1979 -- Amtrak ends rail service in Nashville, eliminating passenger trains from UnionStation.1991 -- Congress passes a $153 billion Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Actearmarked to rebuild the country's transportation infrastructure.1995 --Local transportation agencies (MTA, RTA and Metropolitan PlanningOrganization) commission a study to gauge the feasibility of commuter rail.1995 -- U.S. Rep. Bob Clement secures $3.6 million in federal funds for a "landport" thathe envisions as an eventual hub for a regional intermodal passenger system.1997 -- Construction begins on the landport in the railroad Gulch behind Union Station just south of Demonbreun Street.1998 -- With a final cost of $4.6 million, the Clement Landport officially opens, servingas an MTA transfer point for van pools, airport and hotel shuttles and commuters whochoose to park there.