As funding starts to roll in for Nashville’s "Choose How You Move" transit program, Walk Bike Nashville is calling for short-term, tangible solutions to biking and pedestrian safety in its inaugural State of Our Streets report.
The nonprofit advocacy group outlined six recommendations in the report, released on June 3 and submitted to both the Metro Council and incoming "Choose How You Move" chief program officer Sabrina Sussman.
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“A lot of those recommendations are just enabling things that we think would make a really big difference and give our transportation officials more tools in their toolbox as they kind of build out Choose How You Move,” Walk Bike Nashville programs director Wesley Smith tells Scene sister publication the Nashville Post.
The report recommends that Metro consider building more walking paths and additional protected bikeways, citing what the group feels is the success of projects like the 1.5-mile bikeway along 12th Avenue South. Specifically, the group recommends Metro create more bikeways that connect to downtown.
Walk Bike Nashville also proposes that Metro take further action to prevent fatalities and injuries among bicyclists and pedestrians. The organization says one step toward this goal is creating a line item in Metro’s Vision Zero budget to allow for quick-build construction projects.
Other recommendations include the hiring of a designated transportation policy coordinator and pursuing additional contracts with bike-share companies like BCycle, Bird, Spin and Lime.
“The way to move people efficiently is not by putting them in a single-occupancy vehicle,” says Smith. “It's to put them on their feet, put them on bikes, put them on public transit, and the easier we can make that for people, the more space we have for homes, for businesses, and the easier it is for people to get around.”
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The organization's final recommendation — and one of its key concerns in recent months — is for Metro to endorse a four-lane cross section for the future East Bank Boulevard.
The boulevard will be included in the developing East Bank neighborhood and has been a point of contention amongst Metro and local urbanism groups.
The planned multimodal street will span the existing Cowan Street toward the future Cleveland Street extension, Jefferson Street and Korean Veterans Boulevard. Several options are being considered by the East Bank Development Authority, including six-lane road models, which are opposed by nonprofits like Walk Bike Nashville and the Civic Design Center. These entities cite safety concerns and say such a road would contradict a 2024 Green and Complete Streets executive order signed by Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
“I think when we build streets and transportation that works for people, it's a win-win-win across the board,” Smith says.
“It's good for business. It’s good for our public finances because we're paving less miles, doing less maintenance. It's good for equity reasons, for people with disabilities, for people that can't afford to get around without a car.”
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
