Nashville is one of the few cities where three interstates meet right downtown. I-40, I-24 and I-65 overlap around the inner loop, then split off toward Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Louisville and Birmingham. I-440 cuts across the south side between I-40 and I-24, Briley Parkway loops around the north and east past the airport and the Music Valley area, and I-840 makes a wide arc through the outer counties. Ellington Parkway runs north from East Nashville, and Vietnam Veterans Boulevard carries the commute from Hendersonville. The old pikes, like Nolensville, Murfreesboro, Gallatin, Hillsboro and Charlotte, still radiate from the center.
Traffic is the defining feature of driving here. The downtown loop, the I-24 corridor toward Antioch and Murfreesboro and I-65 through Brentwood back up most weekday mornings and afternoons, and a breakdown on any of them turns into a long wait for a tow. Construction is constant as the city grows, which means lane shifts, debris on the shoulder and plenty of nails and screws in tires. On-site repair skips the trip entirely: a mechanic comes to a driveway in Inglewood, a garage in Midtown or an office park in MetroCenter while you get on with the day.
Nashville International Airport sits east of downtown off I-40 near Donelson, and its economy lots are a regular service location. WeGo runs city buses and the WeGo Star commuter train between downtown and Lebanon, but most of the metro still drives. Vanderbilt University and its medical center anchor the West End and Midtown corridor, and Belmont, Lipscomb and Tennessee State add campus lots across the city.
