NASHVILLE, TENN (WTVF) — Dickerson Pike is one of the deadliest streets for pedestrians in the state, according to data from The Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Forty people have been hit in a recent five-year period on a 1.7-mile stretch from Ewing Dr/Broadmoor Dr to Trinity Lane.
And 43 percent of those crashes lead to death or life-changing injuries.
But Wednesday, part of the road looked a little different. The Nashville Department of Transportation, TDOT and several other groups teamed up to install temporary changes at Queen Ave at 6 am. They used cones to create a pedestrian refuge island halfway through the crosswalk, giving people a place to stop between lanes of traffic.
And they used cones and striping to create a walkway on the east side of the road, where there is no current sidewalk.
The plan was to observe driver and pedestrian behavior and survey people on the changes, with plans for a permanent installation (using paint and asphalt) in a few weeks.
It's another step forward to address Nashville's hot zone pikes, where the majority of pedestrian crashes occur. In January, Walk Bike Nashville published the Dickerson Pike Pedestrian Safety Plan, highlighting seven key intersections that need improvement along Dickerson Pike. NDOT says it's using the findings from the plan to guide its current Smart Growth America Complete Streets Leadership Academy, starting with the temporary changes on Queen Ave Wednesday.
Walk Bike's plan proposes a larger road diet for the stretch, decreasing the five-lane road to three lanes, similar to the 12 South Complete Streets Project. The proposal would make room for more walking, biking and transit. And because Dickerson isn't a heavily-trafficked road (around 21,000 cars per day, according to TDOT traffic counts), federal traffic safety officials say it shouldn't have a big impact on drive times. Road diets are generally recommended for routes with less than 25,000 cars per day, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
But Dickerson Pike is a state-run road, and any comprehensive plan to reorganize lanes and infrastructure lies with TDOT. When NewsChannel 5 reached out to TDOT for information on the long-term plan for the road, staff said "while a road diet would certainly improve transportation safety and reduce fatalities in the location," that the idea has not been studied by TDOT yet. So it was too early to commit to any overarching plan.
TDOT spokesperson Rebekah Hammonds did say one of TDOT's first Pedestrian Road Safety Projects (PRSI) will make spot improvements in the area, including pedestrian improvements at the Dickerson Pike and Trinity Ln intersection.
Meanwhile, NDOT says the cones at Queen Ave should be removed around 5 p.m Wednesday. Staff will continue to survey residents after the experiment and even after the more permanent installation is put in place. Paint and asphalt can be changed, if necessary, NDOT Walking & Biking Manager Anna Dearman said.
Dearman says other, nearby projects are "imminently" in the works as part of Metro's Vision Zero plan, to eliminate pedestrian deaths in Nashville. She says they're working on safety improvements county-wide, and the new quick-build method allows for changes in a matter of months.
Currently, only 17 percent of the dangerous stretch on Dickerson Pike includes sidewalks, according to Toole Design, the firm tapped to study the existing road conditions for the Pedestrian Safety Plan.
Sidewalks tend to be one of the most popular requests from residents across town. Click here for an interactive map of sidewalk projects in Nashville.
