Wednesday Pedal Press #8
Bi-weekly insights, updates, and musings on cycling, infrastructure projects, Vision Zero, and more in Nashville and Middle Tennessee.
Bike Ride Across Wilson County 2024
One of my favorite things about cycling is exploring new roads and getting to be out in nature with friends. I previously hadn’t been able to do this event, but I wanted to make sure that I got to it this year. My friends Dani, Jeremy, and I donned our finest Safety Herd Racing kits and took on the Metric route on a beautiful Saturday morning.
Wilson County has some wonderful rolling hills, farms, and scenery with the route taking us through Watertown and Cedars of Lebanon State Park. The three rest stops and a bonus water-refill location were wonderfully stocked and run by Veloteers Bicycle Club and REI Co-Op volunteers. I already am looking forward to getting back on the roads and doing BRAWC again next year.
Bike Lane Uprising Meeting
Lots of cyclists in the community met at Beyond the Edge in East Nashville to hear an excellent presentation by Christina Whitehouse, the founder of Bike Lane Uprising. If you are unfamiliar, BLU is an app and internet database where cyclists can document bike lane obstructions. BLU then does excellent work mapping these obstructions to identify consistent problem areas, companies, and even municipal vehicles.
Cyclists in Nashville know that submitting these requests to Hub is a worthless endeavor. NDOT and MNPD enforcement personnel don’t respond to these and merely mark these reports closed without any due diligence. Additionally, MNPD does not distinguish bike lane violations differently than any other parking ticket, so there is zero tracking or accountability for these problems from our local government. Bike Lane Uprising, however, documents these issues publicly and has a history of effectively creating awareness and change around these issues.
Interestingly, BLU has launched a sister organization called Uprise, focused on helping companies improve their fleet safety by utilizing their data and many other public datasets.
I encourage everyone to use the app and continue documenting these problems around Nashville and Middle TN. It is important to have good, concrete information when bringing these issues to council members and city officials.
BPAC & Bike Lane Cleanliness
I attended the most recent Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission meeting and brought bike lane cleanliness to their attention. Currently, Nashville only has one dedicated bike lane sweeper for its many miles of protected bike lanes. Demonbroomin’ does not keep up with demand and bike lanes cluttered with motor vehicle debris drastically diminish cyclists’ willingness to utilize these spaces.
Bike lanes, particularly protected bike lanes, are supposed to create safer environments for cyclists to ride in but swerving to avoid harmful sharp objects creates erratic riding, and inevitable roadside repairs put cyclists in more unnecessary dangerous situations.
I am encouraged by the growth of bike lanes, Complete Streets, and hopefully the Choose How You Move referendum. And if passed, Choose How You Move would effectively triple the number of bike lanes that NDOT can install annually. However, my concern is that we are not adequately cleaning and maintaining these spaces now and that an even greater influx of growth would further exasperate these problems. And this would only further motorists’ ill-conceived notion that cyclists “don’t even use them.”
Earlier this year, I published NDOT’s schedule for Demonbroomin’, but I have never been able to validate that it is being followed. And, of course, the schedule is only followed pending good weather. But what happens when a dirty bike lane is reported to Hub? Or if Demonbroomin’ breaks down? The point is that there needs to be a greater cleaning effort. So, I asked BPAC to request NDOT have better information about when and where bike lanes are getting cleaned, and to invest greater resources towards assuring they are staying clean.
I will continue to advocate for this and hope that we can see some improvement on the front! And a friendly reminder that all BPAC meetings have a public comment period where your concerns can be shared.
Dirty bike lanes were one of the biggest findings in my Ride the Districts project earlier this year:
Gallatin Pike/Main Street Plan Reveal
NDOT plans to publish the final plans for the Eastland Ave to South 5th St portion of this project next week. The worst-kept secret is that plans will feature center-running BRT lanes, which is a huge win for the city. As NDOT looks to add more of these throughout the city (with or without CHYM), adopting the global gold standard and creating this precedent for future projects was critical. I cannot wait to get into the nitty-gritty of the plans when they are shared online next Tuesday.
The final plans and the latest information on other NDOT projects will be shared at NDOT’s District 6 ROAD-EO next week. I encourage everyone to come to check them out and ask any questions you may have. I will be at this event representing Vision Zero and would love to talk shop.
Be visible. Be predictable. Do good. Cheers!
Do you have something you think I should feature or investigate? Please let me know at [email protected], or by completing the Contact Us form on our Mission page.