Are Nashville roads safe and walkable?

Unhoused people make up disproportionate number of pedestrian deaths

BY AMANDA HAGGARD

In 2020, more people were killed by vehicles in Nashville while walking than in any other year. And people experiencing homeless are disproportionately affected in these accidents, according to a report from Walk Bike Nashville, a group that advocates for transportation initiatives around walkability, bikeability and safety.

The number of people who died after being struck by a vehicle while walking climbed to 39 in 2020, up from 32 in 2019. That’s with drivers being off the roads more than usual during the pandemic. The number has been steadily rising since 2007, when 12 deaths happened while people were walking in the city. Walk Bike Nashville started collecting data in 2016. The report also says at least 248 people were injured in traffic crashes while walking on top of the 39 deaths.

At least 30 percent of the people killed by vehicles while walking were homeless.

Contributor vendor Julio Gutierrez, who was 52 years old at his time of death, died after he was hit by a car while crossing Buena Vista Pike near Cliff Drive last year. When Gutierrez was hit, it was near 10 p.m. at night — most pedestrian deaths in the city, 70 percent of them, happen at night.

“As in previous years, most crashes occur in neighborhoods that are more likely to have a lower average income and majority percentage of people of color,” where properly lighting the streets at night is often not a priority, the report from Walk Bike Nashville reads.

More than 70 percent of fatalities happened on roads with four or more lanes like Dickerson Pike and Murfreesboro Pike — these roads often don’t have many crosswalks or sidewalks. Another 16 percent of the deaths happened on interstates.

Until more money flows into infrastructure, Walk Bike Nashville outlines a few things drivers can consider when they’re driving on high-speed state arterials.

“People were killed throughout the year and between the hours of 6-9 p.m. are the most dangerous hours for pedestrians,” Walk Bike Nashville says in its report. “Remember between 6-9 p.m. and share with your friends and family. Drive slower, don’t speed, be on the lookout for people. When traveling on the Pikes such as Dickerson and Murfreesboro, remember these are dangerous conditions.”

Walk Bike Nashville also notes that the Pikes in Nashville are often walked heavily because they are integral to WeGo, the city’s bus system.

“These streets serve as the backbone of the city's WeGo Public Transit system,” Walk Bike reports. “As Nashville continues to grow, connecting our pikes to quality transit that is safe and accessible will continue to be an issue for our residents.”

The city is working on a plan to fix the problem. The Vision Zero Plan will work toward ensuring zero pedestrian deaths in Nashville — a tough feat when deaths have steadily grown over the past 15 years.

The mayor's office outlined the following strategies for its plan: • Building and sustaining leadership, collaboration and accountability — especially among a diverse group of stakeholders to include transportation professionals, policymakers, public health officials, police and community members. • Collecting, analyzing and using data to understand trends and potential disproportionate impacts of traffic deaths on certain populations. • Prioritizing equity and community engagement. • Managing speed to safe levels. • Setting a timeline to achieve zero traffic deaths and serious injuries, which brings urgency and accountability, and ensuring transparency on progress and challenges.

Walk Bike Nashville lauded the effort, but also said they felt the plan needed more urgency.

“Waiting another year to make improvements could inevitably mean more loss of life due to unsafe speeds and inhumane street design — tragic impacts to communities and families that can and should be prevented,” they said.

Nashville fills holes in bus service and builds a new de facto department of transportation in budget proposal

BY AMANDA HAGGARD

In Mayor John Cooper’s recent budget unveiling, he announced the city would allocate $25.5 million to restore funding for WeGo bus service, which was only kept alive last year through one-time federal subsidies.

In the announcement, Metro Councilmember Burkey Allen says the budget “should reflect our commitment to improving all modes of transportation and increasing pedestrian and vehicular safety.”

In the transit advocacy group Moving Forward’s 2021 report, the group noted that “2020 was challenging for transit due to COVID-19 and a resulting shift to telecommuting,” but notes that transit disparities will only grow if a comprehensive transit plan doesn’t come to fruition.

It seems the city is always filling holes when it comes to transit.

“Mobility and transit are crucial to an equitable economic recovery — mobility and transit link Middle Tennesseans to education, jobs, food, health care and other basic needs,” the report says. “Investment in transit and transportation now to provide access for all Middle Tennesseans will help the region, its residents, and our economy grow stronger as we recover.”

The restoration of WeGo services is important, but a small portion of what the city needs.

The city will also invest $3.5 million into a plan to turn Metro Public Works into a de facto Department of Transportation. It’s a sort of “if you build it they will come” mentality. The city is hoping by creating the department, it will attract a leader in transit to lead it.

“We want to recruit a superstar who goes to work every day and their job is to make our commuter's life easier," Cooper said when he initially made the announcement.

Metro Public Works will hand off its trash pickup services to the water department — something that’s not been done in the city before and is uncommon, if not unheard of, in other similar-sized cities. Councilmember Freddie O’Connell, among others, have concerns about it working, but are willing to try it in the interim.

Moving Forward’s report notes that while they found “multiple models of regional [transit] coordination, all of the peer regions offering higher-order transit have funding streams dedicated solely to transit. The Middle Tennessee region does not possess dedicated funding for transit.”

For now, the city won’t change the department’s name to NDOT; it would take a Metro Charter amendment change during the 2022 election cycle to make it official.

The departments will start making changes July 1 to transition Metro Water into providing solid waste services and Metro Public Works into a transit agency.

For now, Cooper’s Senior Transportation Advisor, Faye DiMassimo will help launch the DOT.

“To solve a persistent frustration in Nashville, Faye and her team will improve sidewalk construction times by 50 percent and reduce costs by 20 percent within 12 months – as we work to build and repair 75 miles of sidewalks,” Cooper said in his State of Metro address on April 29.

He says the de facto department will manage a Traffic Management Center to help with congestion and says the move will double the capacity for traffic calming, bike lanes and capital projects.

“Most of our transportation funding comes from the capital budget and federal and state grants. But this budget funds 42 new positions to allow our DOT to effectively seek and administer the new spending,” he said. “They will help us get a big job done. More than a rebranding, our DOT will have the capacity to make major improvements.”