Suburbs N or NW of Nashville (White House, Ashland City: houses, neighborhoods, live in)

[tas80]

I don't live in Nashville but I've noticed that it seems like some parts of the area haven't been developed that much. Are there any suburbs on the west and northwest side of Nashville ? By just looking at a map, it looks like almost all of the metro is either south, southeast, east, or northeast. What cities are in the western and northwestern suburbs ? Would Ashland City be considered a western suburb ? It looks like the metro just comes to a sudden stop almost immediately west of Nashville. Weird.

[Wingz]

The answer is the topography. Go to Google Maps, turn on "Terrain" in the menu in the upper left corner and have a look. Looking at a street map, it does look weird, Nashville just stops abruptly on the west side and northwest. Looking at the terrain, you can see that the land west of Nashville is very rugged - steep hills and ravines. Houses can be built on that terrain, but it's very expensive. There is so much flat, or gently rolling, land south and east of Nashville that builders have developed in those areas.

A possible reason for the lack of development on the west side is that there is no bridge over the Cumberland River between Briley Parkway and Ashland City. It's a chicken or egg kind of thing. Is there no development between Nashville and Ashland City because there is no bridge, or is there no bridge because there is no demand, few people live there because of the terrain? I think it's the latter. As long as there is land that is easy to build on in the other directions, I think that area is unlikely to develop.

As for Ashland City, I don't think of it as a suburb of Nashville although people there do commute into Nashville for work. I think of Ashland City as a separate community.

Joelton is a semi-rural area northwest of Nashville that might be considered a suburb of the city. It's out past the area of rugged terrain the goes around Nashville in an arc on the west and north sides. On the north, are White House, Cross Plains and some other small towns that are not suburbs.

[artemis]

Plus, the city dump is out on the NW side,

[nashvols]

Wingz nailed it. Pull up google maps and select terrain. Not only is the area very hilly, but the way the hills spider out in many different directions make it all but impossible for sustained large scale development. Sure, you could possibly develop some small neighborhoods on top of some of the ridge lines or in some of the small valleys, but it would very much be a patchwork of development

Plus, Davidson County residents have voiced their opinion that it should remain rural in nature.