WSMV
Dennis Ferrier

The effort to reduce traffic in Nashville is leading to a plan that has never been done before in Tennessee.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Metro Transit Authority are considering allowing buses to drive in the shoulder of the interstate during rush hour.

The shoulder is normally reserved for police stops and broken down motorists.

The test area will be a 25-mile stretch of Interstate 24 between Harding Place and Highway 231 in Murfreesboro.

The idea would cost about $30 million to upgrade the 25 miles of I-24 to widen the shoulder, move lights and replace some bridges.

It would cost about $900 million to add a lane.

The buses would only be allowed to use the shoulder during certain rush hour conditions.

“They don’t drive all the time,” said TDOT Chief Engineer Paul Degges. “If the traffic in the through lane drops below a certain threshold, the buses can pop over on the shoulder and continue to make good time.”

Officials said one of the concerns is the shoulder is typically reserved for police officers making traffic stops.

“Shoulders do serve a purpose, but most of the time, the bus on the shoulder would be going at a relatively modest speed,” Degges said.

A similar program has been a success in Minneapolis for 20 years. There, traffic must drop to 35 mph before the buses can go to the shoulder. There has only been one serious accident in the program’s history.

MTA officials support the idea, but there are still issues to be worked out. One thing that could help is a new real-time bus information app that is currently being tested.

“I could punch up on my cell phone and look on my phone, and the bus is only five minutes away,” said Patricia Harris-Morehead, an MTA spokesperson. “And I look up and the bus is around the corner.”

The program is most-established in Minneapolis, but is being used to some degree in 10 states.

Watch the video here.