Shade Parade: Walk Your City Campaign…In Nashville! We NEED YOUR HELP FOR THIS, TOO!

Coming soon to Green Hills!

We have our 1st supporter: Thank You Kalamata's!

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Just under 1/2 of all car trips are less than 2 miles. A 2 mile walk, for most would take about 30-40 minutes on foot and just 10-15 minutes on bike.

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Green Hills in Nashville, could be a great walkable neighborhood. The distance between destinations is actually quite short. Within a 20 minutes walk you can travel to The Hill Center/Whole Foods, the YMCA, Trader Joe's, the post office, library, Sally Beaman Park, the mall, Hillsboro High, and the Hillsboro bus.

A few major issues hinder Green Hills as a walkable destination.

One, the sidewalk that is present is right up against the road except for a small stretch shown here - no green buffer nor shade coverage leading to a walking trip that is not very comfortable or pleasant.

Two, the sidewalk network is not intact. There are gaps without sidewalk for no obvious reason. There are many egresses to business parking lots - an obstacle for walkers as many drivers pull up to the road fast and only look over one shoulder (not both ways). If you are walking from the opposite side - you may not be seen if on foot.

Three, the existing sidewalks are in poor condition. Lots of broken walkways and curb cuts. Many obstacles are also in the sidewalk - clearly, these sidewalks are not regarded as active pedestrian fareways.

Four, superblocks. The enormity of walking these blocks, if you destination is half way through a block on the other side, leads to wanting to jaywalk - a great danger in a neighborhood without a high pedestrian volume.

Five, the scale is set for vehicular passage. There are a lot of businesses with large parking lots out front. This makes it so there is no window shopping & a walker has to snake through a busy and often hot parking lot before arriving at their destination.

Let's change this.

Green Hills is a place that many actively avoid as the traffic is awful and yet it is our most dense shopping area. It is also surrounded by neighborhoods with the highest income base. It could be great. Think of the energy of 12th So or the Gulch. These neighborhood feel so alive because they are the perfect mix of walkable and liveable. Green Hills is certainly ready for a redesign…let's work to make it a walking destination!

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Walk Month Nashville is coming in October. We need your help to make Green Hills more walkable! The plan is to do a Walk Your City Campaign in Green Hills. The signs are fairly expensive: $25 per sign. We are looking for donations to get this campaign up!

I encourage you to be on the look out for these signs coming in October.

If you would like to donate $25 for sign - please email me at: thesidewalkfoundation@gmail.com