NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's a multi-billion dollar project that will change the face of Nashville forever.
Transforming the East Bank — where the Titans are currently building their new stadium — may be more difficult than you think.
The 500 acres have very little infrastructure currently in place. Part of the infrastructure work that needs to be done includes lowering the landing for the James Robertson Parkway Bridge by 25 feet.
Last week, East Bank developer, the Fallon Company, released drawings of how certain areas may look.
They included a walkway from downtown into East Nashville with places for sitting and dining, called the "Music City Mile."
The walk-way leads to a large, outside stairway at end of the pedestrian bridge called the "Cumberland Bluffs." It is identified as the most "memorable" space on the East Bank.
Civil engineer and life-long East Nashville resident Clint Camp is aware those pictures are very different from what is there now.
"This has been a wasteland for downtown. This has been cheap, free parking so we could bus you somewhere you actually wanted to be," Camp said.
Camp is following the project and is not part of the design team, but as a civil engineer, he understands the main challenge on the East Bank is infrastructure.
"This is mostly a blank slate," Camp said, as he looked over a lot that used to be a truck stop.
"A lot of these existing parcels, they've been here for quite some time, and they are not served by any significant utilities whatsoever," Camp said.
He pointed out that water, sewer and utility lines must be installed.
"Do they need a 12-inch line or a 15-inch water line?"
And there's always the question of what is buried there now.
"What is the urban fill that was collected and dumped here for 100 years before we paved over the place? What was put into here? Was this trash that was here before?" Camp questioned.
Nashville Chief Development officer Bob Mendes put the infrastructure price tag at hundreds of millions of dollars.
"The main job over the next several years is infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure," Mendes said at the most recent East Bank Authority Board meeting.
A big example is lowering the James Robertson Parkway bridge.
"We need to work on getting the James Robertson Parkway bridge, which is 25 feet in the air, down to grade," Mendes said.
Camp believes lowering the bridge is critical to the development.
"Right now this is a foreboding kind of dismissive place, you wouldn't want to be here after dark," Camp said as he stood under the bridge.
The elevated bridge is a barrier, that would prevent the wide-open East Bank Boulevard seen in drawings.
"Bringing it down to grade allows the connections, and it allows the activity and it allows the potential development to thrive," Camp said.
Another huge concern for the entire project is flooding.
"This area was absolutely flooded in the 2010 storm event," Camp said.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Mendes, "What if there is another 2010 flood?"
Mendes responded, "We're going to set the road levels on the East Bank above the 2010 flood level."
Metro has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers, studying future flood threats on the East Bank.
"What happened in 2010 will happen again, so it's important from an infrastructure perspective to have a resilient design," Camp said.
Metro is passing much of the cost for infrastructure onto those using or developing the property.
The Fallon Company is responsible for infrastructure around part of the East Bank Boulevard, and TPAC must come up with tens of millions of dollars for infrastructure around its building.
However, TPAC has threatened to walk away from the project.
A lot has to happen before the "Music City Mile" and "Cumberland Bluffs" become reality.
A parking lot currently sits where the "grand stairway" of the Cumberland Bluffs will be.
Camp believes the future success of the area depends on what happens now, with infrastructure.
"I think when you talk about infrastructure, the challenge is it's something that's not seen," Camp said.
The Mayor's office said it is too early to say when work will begin on the James Robertson Parkway Bridge, whether the bridge will be closed or even how traffic will be impacted.
The Fallon company said it can begin work on its parcel near the bridge after it has been lowered.
