Mayor Karl Dean this morning threw his weight behind recommendations from consulting firm Parson Brinckerhoff to go with bus rapid transit over streetcars for the busy West End/downtown corridor. The cost of building out a two-lane line through East Nashville's Five Points area would be $136 million, less than half that of a similar streetcar plan.

Metro installed a light BRT system on East Nashville’s Gallatin Avenue in 2009. Under consideration for Broadway-West End is a more sophisticated BRT version in which buses would occupy lanes exclusively.

Paul Skoutelas, transit market director of Parsons Brinckerhoff, said consultants explored four options for the east-west corridor: doing nothing, light rail, a streetcar and BRT. He said consultants emphasized finding an option that could begin operating within a short timeframe.