Following a fatal hit and run on Elm Hill Pike Sunday night, neighbors and drivers who navigate Elm Hill Pike on a daily basis hoped changed would be made to make the road safer, and that drivers would use more caution while driving through the area.
The road has been undergoing a $40 million water project, so the five lane road with two lanes in each direction as well as a turning lane has been condensed to a two lane road in certain areas, with only one lane heading each direction.
Some people who work in the area have had to change the way they get to and from work based on the dangerous driving of other people.
"I'll only exit down on the end because people are driving too fast," Frank Wells, owner of Fikes Tennessee, said.
Wells has worked along Elm Hill Pike for 3 years, and he said while it's always been a dangerous stretch of road with no sidewalks, but the construction has made it much worse with people failing to acknowledge a change in traffic patterns.
"They need to slow down and if there's any construction or any cones going on, just be careful, especially with one lane of traffic," Wells said. "There's no room for error, whatsoever."
The project is expected to be finished by the end of the year, but Wells hopes that construction crews will return soon, but this time, to put in sidewalks.
"I understand it's a lot of money to put sidewalks and stuff in, but they gotta get the roads and sewers and stuff fixed first and maybe that'll come later," Wells said.
Councilman Jeff Syracuse said that could happen, bringing relief to the area.
"The Elm Hill sidewalk project is actually identified in Nashville Next as more of a higher priority sidewalk," Syracuse said, who represents the district.
With so many tourists in the hotels as well as neighborhood residents, Syracuse said that sidewalks are needed, but until then, what's really needed is safe drivers.
"Metro Water has been doing a phenomenal job managing this project, people just need to, when they see the cones, when they see the construction site, they need to slow down." Syracuse said. "Put their phones down, everything, and pay attention."
