Among the myriad improvements proposed by Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s $3.1 billion transit overhaul are several that aim to make life better for pedestrians. The most obvious element is a proposal to install or upgrade 86 miles of sidewalks in Nashville over the next 15 years. But plans to reimagine the city’s busiest corridors for drivers and bus riders could also make Nashville a safer place to walk, according to the mayor and transit advocates.
Adding urgency to the project is the fact that last year, 37 pedestrians died in Nashville. While that’s lower than the record high of 47 deaths seen in 2022, frustrations about the quality of Nashville sidewalks — or lack thereof — remain, especially for citizens with disabilities. Meredith Montgomery, executive director of local transit advocacy organization Walk Bike Nashville, notes that the majority of fatal accidents for pedestrians and cyclists happen on just 6 percent of Nashville’s streets. Advocates posit the transit improvement plan itself as one way to help Nashville meet its goal of reducing annual pedestrian deaths to zero by 2050.
The plan currently calls for big improvements to major roadways like Nolensville and Dickerson Pike that would include revamping sidewalks, traffic signals and transit service. O’Connell tells the Scene that the goal isn’t to get drivers out of their cars or change commuters’ behavior, but to respond to unmet demands.
“What you see right now on the ground is demand by way of dirt paths and ditches where people are trying to walk,” the mayor says.
Smarter crosswalk signals would be supported by the plan as well, especially when installing crosswalks in the middle of city blocks. The most important tool here could be HAWK beacons, which have been shown to improve pedestrian safety in cities like Phoenix. HAWK signals (which get their name from the acronym for “High-Intensity Activated crossWalK”) give a solid red light when pedestrians are crossing, and then allow traffic to resume once the crosswalk is clear — drivers don’t need to wait for a green light, as with traditional signals.
“It’s significantly safer than any other kind of crosswalk for a pedestrian,” says Montgomery.
“When we have this upgraded signalization … it allows them to not only put more of those in, but it allows them to coordinate with the lights on that whole corridor to make sure that it’s activated in a way that doesn’t completely back up traffic,” she says. “So it really significantly improves the pedestrian experience while also keeping the drivers in mind, and it keeps the traffic flow moving.”
Making walking conditions more pleasant can also make them safer. Montgomery says that while a sidewalk set up against a 40 mph road is “better than having to walk in a ditch on the side of the road,” the experience could still be improved by adding a green buffer, trees for shade (which can have a traffic-calming effect) or even a bike lane — all of which create more space between pedestrians and traffic.
Montgomery says Nashville needs a “transformative” plan like the one proposed by O’Connell, in contrast to the city’s historically piecemeal approach to fixing and adding sidewalks.
“If we go in there and completely change the landscape and put in, you know, trees for shade, and put in bus stops that look really appealing to use, it creates a more dignified experience,” she says.
O’Connell points to pedestrian, bike lane and bus shelter improvements on 12th Avenue South as an example of Nashvillians taking advantage of new options. The “traffic still flows” in that busy neighborhood, he says, but there are also more pedestrians.
“What we saw was our constituents literally telling us they started walking more because the corridor simply seemed safer,” he says.
Digging into Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit referendum, which will be on the ballot in November
