Pop Up Walking Districts / Pilot Sidewalk Infrastructure - coming soon in Oct for Walk Nashville Month!

Every year, Nashville celebrates Walk Nashville Month.  Hopefully, some day in the near future, this won't really be needed as Nashvillians will have the infrastructure in place so that they can easily weave walking into their lifestyle.

Until then, we must forge ahead with planned events to highlight our needs and our solutions.

To highlight need, I am looking for 3 pilot sidewalks to be installed in areas with a lot of walkers but missing sidewalks.  This would be completed to Public Work specifications by volunteers and financed through crowd sourcing.  The areas I am looking at are:

- Bowling Av
- 51st
- Graybar

I have a call out to a wonderful Landscape Architect who I hope will be helpful and we are looking into ideas such as permeable concrete with a rain garden element.  If you would like to have this done at your house & you live in an area with a lot of latent demand for walkability - please let me know and we can start the planning process.

To highlight solutions, I am also looking for 3 areas with a high volume of walkers on quiet residential streets who may not have immediate need for sidewalks but would benefit for creating a 'Slow Zone' - allowing walkers to feel safe on these streets.  I've entitled this project "Pop-Up Walking Districts'. 

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The Pop-Up Walking District in my neighborhood has been given the name Timber Park.  Not long ago, I was passed an older gentleman and he said he loved to walk in the neighborhood because it reminded him of a public park with its tall trees.  This idea rolled around in my head for a while and popped out as a lovely way of making our public spaces - the roads - into park infrastructure.

The project would require a temporary reduction in speed limit to 20 mph, chalked in pedestrian icons on the road ways (equivalent of the bike icons for bike ways) and signage as you enter and leave the district.  I envisage the signage being hand made and fitting with the character of the neighborhood.

The areas I am looking at for this project are:

- Timber Park (Timber, Golf Club, Woodleigh, Forrest Park)
- Graybar
- The Nations
- Sylvan Park

Let me know if you want to help with this or if you have a location that you would think is fitting.  

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Want better walkability in Nashville - here is your chance to help!

'We are the ones we have been waiting for'
- June Jordan