Sidewalk Project #1, Bowling Av: Guest Author Clif Shayne - Sidewalk Perspective from an 8th Grader

On one of the first beautiful days in February, I decided to walk down Bowling Avenue. My name is Clif Shayne. I am an 8^th grader at University School of Nashville.

I started off walking down Golf Club Lane, where there are no sidewalks. There were not many cars, so it was not a big deal. But when I turned the corner onto Bowling Avenue, I discovered that it was not really a walk, it was more of an obstacle course. This image shows what walking down Bowling is like. I soon discovered that I was going to be in a ditch for most of my walk.

This picture shows not only that I had to walk in a ditch; I had to climb over obstacles. This is inconvenient for everybody. Walking down this street with a baby stroller is impossible. Good luck with that.

Walking down Bowling is dangerous for many various reasons. I was always close to cars that are going by at 35 mph or more. I did not feel safe and I had a feeling of anxiety throughout the walk. 

Imagine running or pushing a baby stroller over this. It is an accident or a rolled ankle waiting to happen. Walking down Bowling caused me to pay more attention than I should have during a walk because of things like this.

I didn’t have a radar gun, but it seemed like most cars were going over 35 mph. This is too fast for a neighborhood. This walk was one of the least relaxing strolls I’ve taken in a while.

This intersection was very chaotic. There were no pedestrian stripes, and no crossing signals. It was clearly not built for humans to walk on. I had to quickly run across so I got out of the way of the cars.

Overall, it was a bad experience. There is a sidewalk that starts at Brighton Avenue that goes to West End, but it only covers a pretty small portion of Bowling. It is basically a sidewalk to nowhere. By adding 7/10 of sidewalk all the way to Woodmont Boulevard, an entire neighborhood would be able to walk safely to Elmington Park. It would be so great for everyone to walk safely, get some easy exercise, and enjoy the neighborhood without a car. 

I am working on a school project to try to get a sidewalk on Bowling Avenue from Woodmont Boulevard to Brighton Road. I am trying to collect information about the neighberhood’s feelings about a potential sidewalk. Below is a link to a short survey about the topic. It would be greatly appreciated if you would take a minute or two to fill out the survey. The results will be posted on this blog. Thank you so much for your time!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9KKLXBM