GATEWAY/FRANKLIN BOULEVARD MASTER PLAN, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
At the request of the Mayor, the Metro Department of Public Works, Metro Planning Commission, Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency and the consultant team involved in the Subarea 9 Plan met in collaborative sessions to address the Mayor's charge of making the Franklin Boulevard project "softer" and more balanced between pedestrian and vehicular concerns. It was an effort to ensure that this street does not become a dividing line across an area of our city that is emerging as a mixed-use pedestrian oriented neighborhood. This set of guidelines was intended to help Franklin Boulevard serve as an urban amenity, a catalyst for quality new development and a destination instead of a short cut across town. The purpose of this document was to identify a set of urban design issues and to derive design guidelines to ameliorate each issue. The guidelines illustrated ways in which the scale, character and fine-grained details of Franklin Boulevard project can be realized and the image of downtown Nashville can be enhanced through its addition to our city's urban fabric.