Murfreesboro’s new Bridge Avenue park and ride, which opened October 6 beside the Murfreesboro Transit Center, adds 75 spaces for people transferring to WeGo Route 84 Express. The facility follows a series of changes to the route’s Murfreesboro stops as the region looks for ways to offer alternatives to driving I-24 between Murfreesboro and Nashville.
Keshawn Beard, who uses a bus pass to get around the city with his family, told WSMV that traffic can make the interstate drive take an hour and cause him to miss an appointment. The park and ride gives Route 84 riders another place to board, though its effect on the broader commute will depend on how many people use the service.
The Bridge Avenue site became Route 84’s primary park and ride on October 5, replacing the old Stones River Mall lot, according to WeGo Public Transit. The change also affected dedicated transit service tied to Nashville SC matches. It followed a July 2026 shift of Route 84 buses to the new Murfreesboro Transit Center on New Salem Highway; WeGo also ended stops at the legacy downtown Rover Station on Burton and Walnut streets, moving those downtown stops to Lytle Street, according to the agency’s earlier announcement.
Riders Describe a Growing Crowd and a Patchwork Commute
Carlos Black, who mostly works from home and takes the bus to his Nashville office a few times a week, told WSMV he has noticed more people riding and would like to see more transit connections. Regional ridership figures offer one measure of the growing use of transit, though they cover different services and periods.
Route 84 Express runs hourly from 5:15 a.m. until 5:15 p.m., connecting the Middle Tennessee State University campus parking lot with Central and 5th Avenue in downtown Nashville. The route listing from Transit shows 15 designated stops along the corridor, including service at the MTSU campus.
Why the Interstate Keeps Getting Worse
The park and ride is one transit option amid rising highway traffic. Traffic volume on I-24 between Murfreesboro and Nashville has climbed more than 60 percent since 2005, and the Tennessee Department of Transportation says physical widening is financially unfeasible. The state’s I-24 SMART Corridor initiative focuses instead on managing the highway and connecting arterial roads with highway operations, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Murfreesboro’s population has grown 20 percent over the last five years, per Russ Brashear. WSMV reported that regional transit buses saw ridership climb 19 percent since summer compared with the prior year, while the Murfreesboro route recorded a 50 percent increase.
How the SMART Corridor and Ridership Figures Fit
The SMART Corridor is a traffic-management effort, not a highway-widening project. According to TDOT, its integrated corridor management system launched in June 2023. The project is in Phase 2, managing the corridor while work continues to launch its arterial management system; Phase 3 long-term deployments are still in design, with construction timing unknown. A separate, earlier benchmark gives context for regional express service: Mass Transit reported a 13 percent year-over-year increase in WeGo express bus ridership in the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2023-2024. That figure covers express routes broadly, not Route 84 alone, and is distinct from the more recent figures reported by WSMV.
Riding the Regional Express
WeGo's regional express routes, including Route 84, connect Murfreesboro with downtown Nashville.
The $17 million transit center anchoring the new park and ride was financed through $9 million in state IMPROVE Act grants, $5 million in federal funds, and $2.8 million in local matching dollars from Murfreesboro's capital improvement budget, according to the City of Murfreesboro. Groundbreaking on the facility took place in October 2023.
Multiple Agencies, One Shared Hub
The Bridge Avenue center brings regional and local transit connections together.
Murfreesboro Transit, the city's separate local bus network, operates eight routes across town and hopes to install 32 shelters over several years, reported the Murfreesboro Pulse. The system offers weekday service and limited Saturday service on select routes. WeGo, the City of Murfreesboro, and TDOT are planning to celebrate the official opening of the park and ride at the transit center.
Route 84 Riders Want More Connections I-24 congestion remains a challenge for commuters between Murfreesboro and Nashville. Route 84 ridership continues to climb, and riders hope more routes will be added.
