NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A north Nashville resident is questioning why the Nashville Department of Transportation marked a safety improvement project as complete on its online tracker when the work hasn't even begun.
Ben Hubert, who lives off Ewing Drive, has been monitoring safety projects in his neighborhood before three people died in crashes along the road within six weeks around September 2023. One of those victims was Tamika Petway, who police say died at an intersection where Hubert had previously contacted the city about safety concerns.
"I actually reached out to the city last year in July about one intersection in particular where Miss Petway passed away before that even happened and asked why if there's anything we can do to make it safer," Hubert said.
Hubert has witnessed the severity of crashes on Ewing Drive firsthand.
"They can be bad; there have been vehicles upside down," he said.
On the anniversary of Petway's death, Hubert shared emails between him and NDOT showing his ongoing safety concerns.
"Personally, I am on that road and people that I care about," he said.
According to Hubert, NDOT scheduled two safety projects for the area in 2022. However, as of 2025, those improvements still haven't been implemented.
When Hubert checked NDOT's interactive project map, he discovered the project was labeled as complete. A review of the same online tracker confirmed this status, even though a physical inspection of the area shows no work has been done.
In email exchanges between NDOT and Hubert in June, he questioned why the agency marked the project as complete when it hadn't started. NDOT responded: "There was other work being completed on Ewing Drive by the same contractor and we updated the tracker by mistake. The completion is pending the delivery of new materials" — without providing a clear timeline for when the project might be finished.
"I hope the city actually takes physical action on our street and makes it safer to be in both a car or to walk," Hubert said.
NDOT said they're planning a speed reduction in the area that was approved last month.
Have you experienced issues with road safety in your neighborhood? Share your story with reporter Kim Rafferty at kim.rafferty@NewsChannel5.com.
In this article, we used artificial intelligence to help us convert a video news report originally written by Kim Rafferty. When using this tool, both Kim and the NewsChannel 5 editorial team verified all the facts in the article to make sure it is fair and accurate before we published it. We care about your trust in us and where you get your news, and using this tool allows us to convert our news coverage into different formats so we can quickly reach you where you like to consume information. It also lets our journalists spend more time looking into your story ideas, listening to you and digging into the stories that matter.
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