The city of Nashville has pledged to add hundreds of miles in new bike lanes throughout the city over the next decade, but keeping those lanes clear has proven to be a challenge.
Most city streets have been swept by Metro Water Service. They have spent about 830 hours a year sweeping 21,000 miles of roadway throughout the city. The budget for city street sweeping has remained at $800,000 for the last five years though even as new roads and bike lanes have constantly been added.
The result: bike lanes that have often been filled with rocks, trash, and other debris, which often create hazard situations for cyclists.
"The infrastructure we do have suffers from not having dedicated funding to take care of that infrastructure," said Austin Bauman, owner of Green Fleet Bicycle Shop.
Bauman has often worried about the safety of his employees who make deliveries on their bikes.
"There's dirt, car parts, trash, things that fall out of cars and they end up on the side of the road, and that's where we as cyclists are expected to ride. The expectation for the driver is that if they see the infrastructure on the right the driver should be there but if it's not safe because it's not clean then they can't ride there," he said.
For the city it's often hard to keep up.
"With the miles of streets we have to sweep, we’re doing the best we can. We can sweep a street and in two or three days there can be debris on it again," said Sonia Allman with Metro Water Services.
Residents can report debris or concerns in bike lanes by clicking here.
