SOUTH NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A new walking path on Tampa Drive is providing a safer route for South Nashville residents and could serve as a model for future pedestrian infrastructure across the city.
As I spent time with neighbors in South Nashville listening to your concerns, I heard the lack of sidewalks is a major issue for families. I came back to the area to see some of the possible solutions in action.
One of those is called a walking path. The Nashville Department of Transportation installed the pathway as part of a neighborhood street traffic calming project completed on Feb. 16, 2026. The project created the path by narrowing the roadway and using striping and white flexible posts to make it highly visible to drivers. Adjacent speed cushions were also added to slow down traffic.
"Instead of walking on the roadway, kids and neighbors can now use the walking path," Izi Witt said.
Witt, the advocacy coordinator for Walk Bike Nashville, said the organization advocated for this idea in 2023 after the neighborhood was selected by NDOT for the traffic calming project.
"Now there's a whole stretch of neighbors that are able to connect better with each other," Witt said. "We want something that's safe for neighbors to walk around their neighborhood. We want a safe a safe route for kids to walk to school, and we want that as quick as possible."
Last year, 28 people were killed while walking, biking, or riding scooters in the city, and nearly half of those deaths happened in South Nashville.
"South Nashville has a lot of roadway fatalities, pedestrians and cyclists especially, and it's pretty disproportionate to the rest of Nashville. And so it's really wonderful to see proactive measures like this alternative walking path to act before something happens," Witt said.
The path gives families a safer way to get to Paragon Mills Elementary School. Prior to the Tampa Drive project, NDOT also installed school zone improvements at Paragon Mills to provide safety and visibility for crossings.
"There are people in the neighborhood who have spoken about how awesome this walking path is for them. There's a Deaf resident, and it's much safer and easier for her to walk her grandchildren to school now," Witt said.
"It provides a visible, easy-to-install route for pedestrians in areas where road geometry or nearby grading/drainage issues make the construction of a full sidewalk difficult," an NDOT spokesperson said. "We're using this as an example as we evaluate future requests for sidewalks, and hope that it can be a good quick-build improvement to close some gaps along other streets."
Do you have a story idea in South Nashville? You can email our South Nashville Reporter at Patsy.Montesinos@NewsChannel5.com
Austin Pollack brings us an update on a remarkable young man facing great odds, and his family has one simple request: pray for Cole. I believe in the power of prayer and hope you'll join me in lifting up Cole and his family.
- Carrie Sharp
