Announcing The Streets for People Campaign

Our Executive Director shares her vision for a new campaign, one that will transform our streets.

By Meredith Montgomery     September 26, 2024

Before moving to Nashville, I was known as the girl on the big green bike. I rode my lime green cargo bike all over town daily, and our boys did too. They would roam the neighborhood with friends after school and by the age of 10 my oldest son would regularly bike up to the gas station for a drink, or ride a mile and a half into town to get ice cream. There were few bike lanes, but the community was walkable with sidewalks lining low speed streets. My kids grew up with a sense of independence, adventure, and joy–an experience simply unavailable to much of Nashville. 

Our new home, like many American cities, has prioritized the speed of cars over all other modes or street functions for more than a century, leaving us with a built environment that threatens our safety and is detrimental to our health. Nowhere is this more evident than on our arterial roads like Murfreesboro Pike, Dickerson Pike, and Nolensville Pike. These noisy, inhospitable streetscapes function as multi-lane speedways for much of the day, becoming clogged with traffic jams of cars, trucks, and buses during peak hours. WeGo riders are often forced to wait at “bus stops” in ditches that become puddles when it rains, and parking lots sit empty most days. Pedestrians risk their lives to cross 5+ lanes of traffic when no crosswalk is in sight, and the only cyclists on the road are likely there out of necessity, riding alongside vehicles moving at dangerous speeds.

But what if our streets were built differently? Imagine these arterial roads being synonymous with a sense of community and vibrancy instead of danger and hostility. The deafening noise of speeding trucks has been replaced by the sounds of people. A steady stream of residents and visitors walk in and out of businesses while others linger as they enjoy impromptu social connections with friends and neighbors. Adult supervision is no longer required for our kids to bike to the ice cream shop with their friends again, and taking the bus is now a convenient and enjoyable alternative to hopping in the car.

Try to imagine cars on these corridors moving at slower speeds while traffic is flowing more efficiently. Buses have their own lanes and bus stops are upgraded from just a sign, to an actual shelter with a place to sit. Portions of the streetscape have been reclaimed for people walking and biking so that protected bike lanes provide separation for cyclists, and wide sidewalks run continuously along the corridor. Greenspace, active storefronts, and pedestrian plazas breathe new life into properties that used to sit vacant, and frequent safe crossing opportunities make them easy to access. New street trees have been planted for shade, aesthetic, and heat reduction, while stormwater infrastructure mitigates flooding. 

In this imaginary scene, life along the street doesn’t stop when the sun goes down–functional human-scaled lighting improves visibility for our most vulnerable users while festive string lights over cafe patios entice strolling neighbors to share a meal among neighbors. A full schedule of community events taking place in and along the street ensures that there’s always a show to see or a gathering to join. Dog walkers can be seen at all hours of the day and buses are running frequently, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

The streets we are dreaming about are no longer just designed for cars–they’re streets designed for people. On Tuesday, November 5, we have an opportunity to turn those imaginary streets for people into a reality with Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s Choose How You Move program. This ballot measure aims to address the city’s most pressing transportation and infrastructure needs by focusing on sidewalk, signal, service, and safety improvements. The program takes a pragmatic approach to transforming our transportation system as we know it while reframing the purpose of our streets: to move people effectively and safely while improving our quality of life.

As our largest form of public space, streets should be the heartbeat of the city, enhancing livability and access to resources and amenities. When we vote for this dedicated revenue source for transportation improvements, 55 miles of major roadways will be transformed into the streets we dream about. This includes pikes such as Charlotte, Clarksville, Dickerson, Gallatin, Murfreesboro, Nolensville, and West End, plus significant sections of 8th Ave., Hart Ln., Jefferson St., Trinity Ln., Thompson Ln., Church St., Woodland St., and Wharf Ave./Chestnut St./Edgehill Ave. Without this funding, our city will continue its slow-paced approach to making changes. Without this significant increase of resources to make our plans come to fruition, we’d be lucky to see a fraction of the improvements included in Choose How You Move in our lifetime. 

Voting for Choose How You Move is a generational opportunity to build the streets we want to see—vibrant streets that restore freedom and independence to users of all ages and abilities; inclusive streets that provide a neighborhood-specific sense of place; and selfishly, a way for me to become “that girl on the big green bike” again. Join me in voting “FOR”  the transit referendum on November 5. A vote for Choose How You Move is a vote for streets for people.

Meredith Montgomery

Executive Director, Walk Bike Nashville