Blog
Progress Continues in Tennessee
Fresh off a successful Re-imagining Broad Street event in Memphis, advocates in Tennessee get a new Bicycle & Pedestrian policy at TDOT (helmet tip, Bike Walk TN). The updated policy:
- now applies to local governments managing transportation projects with federal funding as well as TDOT staff and contractors
- requires use of AASHTO and TDOT bicycle and pedestrian facility design standards
- requires that accommodations for cyclists and pedestrians must be integrated into all federally or state funded transportation projects
- requires that federally funded bridge replacement or rehabilitation projects include bicycle and pedestrian accommodations
See the full policy here.
Tennessee DOT has also been at the forefront in creating a model bicycle-tolerable rumble strip policy. As one of the state’s to be included in FHWA’s run off the road crash reduction planning efforts, we’ve received positive feedback that city, MPO and state transportation planners were steadfast to ensure that their model plan and design standards were integrated into FHWA’s efforts in their state, and ensuring that cyclist-safety is integrated into these crash reduction strategies.
These examples show that Tennessee is moving in the right direction in changing the culture of transportation agencies that will have a lasting direct effect on cycling in the state.
Bike Walk Tennessee advocates have worked hard for the progress made in their state.
Jeff Peel
State and Local Advocacy Coordinator
Peel joined the League in March 2008 as a Program Specialist for the Bicycle Friendly Communities program. Peel has a BA in American Studies from the University of Southern Mississippi.
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December 25th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
As a founding member of Bike Walk Tennessee, I have been proud of the huge strides made by the state advocacy efforts in such a short time. I feel enriched by the friendships made with others in Tennessee over the past few months.
Yet, while the efforts show some progress, there still exists an apparent attitude that the Tennesse DOT rumble strip program is a white elephant where no compromises can be reached.
Recently, the state (according to sources) resurfaced part of Neely’s Bend in Davidson County. It is probably not a significant street in the overall scheme, being a small, crowded urban avenue that eventually dead-ends at a Greenway near the Cumberland River about five miles away.
And, although the Run-off-the-Road statistics are cited as a likely reason for the road work, the section is now rendered useless to any cyclist who does not wish to ride in the road to avoid rumble strip issues with stability and equipment. This is especially troubling because it is often stated by TDOT that once the strips are in place, they will be there until the next resurfacing in about “10 years.”
Yet, with channeling some of those costly runble funds to improving the road for everyone, it could have been a great link to the Greenway system that Metro Nashville is rightfully proud of, and which could have been connected with another Cumberland River Greenway connection project downstream.
My enthusiasm is waning that we will make progress in major cities like Metro Nashville before this window of opportunity closes on another generation of cyclists.
Once closed, the whole effort will need to be reinitiated once more when the country sees cycling as a viable transportation option. And how many years will lapse between points of close to open? How much effort will be needlessly exhausted when advocates, suffering from a depressing enervation, see what they have done today is wasted.
Do we really need to always be reinventing the wheel? We will if we keep being satisfied that winning small concessions means we are making a difference in the larger scheme of cycling progress.