Cleveland Street is scheduled for repaving this summer. Because this street is a priority bikeway in WalkNBike (our city's adopted pedestrian and bicycle plan) the city underwent a public engagement process to improve safety, calm traffic and increase transportation options.  

However, this week we learned that Councilmember Scott Davis is blocking the addition of these safety improvements, including traffic calming, on-street parking, improved crosswalks and bike lanes.

We strongly disagree with the Councilmember's action. We urge you to email him and the city to ask them to reverse their decision and prioritize safety over through-traffic. 

This decision runs counter to the input from well-attended public community meetings held by Metro Public Works/Planning, the support of 200+ neighborhood residents in our petition (the majority of whom live within two miles of the street), the TDOT Multimodal Guidelines, the Mayor's Complete Streets Executive Order, WalkNBike, Nashville Next and the recommendations of Metro Planning and Public Works. 

This is a disappointing outcome for the many of you who live in the neighborhood and have been engaged in this community design process over the last few months. We share your disappointment.  The repaving of this street should include improvements to make Cleveland Street safer for all users: drivers, pedestrians, and bicycle riders. It should provide increased transportation options in East Nashville and add a key link in our bicycle network. Cleveland Street is not a particularly busy street for cars (just 9,000 per day at the busiest point), and so these improvements could be made with little to no impact on vehicle capacity. 

Days like today show us how much more work we have to do to ensure our city is a more walkable, bikeable and livable place. No neighborhood should be left behind. Councilmember Davis' decision sets a dangerous precedent for other neighborhood traffic calming and safety improvement projects in the future. 

If you live near Cleveland Street, frequently use this street, or believe that safety improvements and traffic calming should not be optional we strongly urge you to contact Councilmember Davis and the Mayor to share your perspective.

You can email them ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected]), call/text CM Davis (615-554-9730) or contact him via facebook or twitter. It is important to make sure our voice as advocates for better streets for all Nashville neighborhoods is heard. 

The Walk Bike Nashville Staff and Board

www.walkbikenashville.org