Two Years of Progress Under Nashville’s Choose How You Move Initiative
Two years ago, Nashville voters took a definitive stance on the future of the city’s infrastructure. By a margin of 66 percent, residents approved the Choose How You Move (CHYM) program, a massive $3.1 billion undertaking designed to address the city’s long-standing transportation bottlenecks. Today, as that program marks its second anniversary, the city is moving beyond the conceptual phase and into a period of tangible construction and operational rollout.
For residents getting around the city, the shift is becoming visible. According to official data provided by the Nashville municipal government, the program has funneled $220 million into capital improvements since the half-cent sales surcharge collection officially began on February 1, 2025. While the scale of the project is generational, the current milestone highlights the transition from policy debate to physical pavement.
From Planning Maps to Pavement Projects
The program’s primary hurdle was always going to be the gap between voter approval and visible neighborhood impact. Metro officials report that 78 new sidewalk projects are currently in progress across high-need corridors, a critical component for a city historically defined by its car-centric sprawl. A notable example is the newly completed sidewalk on Benton Avenue near GEODIS Park, which serves as a test case for the program’s ability to improve pedestrian safety in high-traffic zones.
Beyond concrete and sidewalks, the initiative is aggressively targeting the digital and operational aspects of transit. The city has initiated work on 214 signal upgrades, shifting toward real-time smart signals intended to optimize traffic flow. Planning and construction are underway for 12 of the 41 miles of "Complete Streets" projects and 14 of the 54 miles of "All-Access Corridors," changing how the city intends to balance transit capacity with neighborhood accessibility.
What I’ve seen since isn’t just construction, it’s people catching the bus to work who couldn’t before, kids walking to school on sidewalks that didn’t exist, and families keeping a little more money in their pockets because of programs like Journey Pass, said Mayor Freddie O’Connell. Mayor O'Connell
The Human Stakes of Transit Access
The economic impact of CHYM is perhaps most clearly articulated through the Journey Pass. Since its launch in 2025, the program has provided free transit for qualifying residents, recording over 15,000 registrants and facilitating more than 3.4 million WeGo trips.
The challenge for Mayor O’Connell’s administration remains keeping the project on schedule as it moves into more complex phases, such as the development of the Nolensville and Gallatin Pikes transit corridors.
Building Accountability into the Infrastructure
To address the demand for transparency, the city has launched a dedicated portal at nashville.gov/choosehowyoumove. The site is designed to provide residents with an interactive look at project timelines and budget allocations by council district. Sabrina Sussman, the program’s Chief Program Officer, noted that the goal is to ensure the program remains visible and accountable to the voters who authorized the surcharge.
Looking ahead, the city is preparing for the 2027 Winter Service changes, which include a new connector route in Antioch scheduled for launch on January 3. This expansion is part of a broader strategy to bridge service gaps in outlying areas of Davidson County. As the program enters its third year, the focus will shift from initial project mobilization to the sustained delivery of the high-capacity transit network promised to voters.
