Page 20 - July-Aug2023 Vol41 No2

NASHVILLE By Taylor Hagood
12th Avenue South Complete and

Green Streets Project: Delivered

The heart of every community is the people. At LDA Engineering, we
strive to support stronger, happier, communities by delivering projects
that improve the quality of life for everyone. We are excited to do
so by delivering the second-ever complete and green street project
for the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal
Infrastructure (NDOT), through our partnership with NDOT as the
Sidewalk and Bikeways Program Management Consultant.
The 12th Avenue South Complete and Green Streets Project is a
1.6-mile corridor consisting of a new water line, protected bike lanes,
16 transit stop upgrades, green stormwater infrastructure, and ADA-
compliant sidewalks and pedestrian safety improvements.
Earlier this spring, the finished project was celebrated at a ribbon
cutting where Metro District 17 Council Member Colby Sledge stated, 12th Avenue South Complete and Green Streets (aerial view) including
new protected bike lanes, pedestrian safety improvements, and urban
“Every community’s priorities are in the 12th Avenue South Complete bioretention islands through a mixed use development area and transit stop.
Street and Green Street. This project is for everyone.”
History of the Project
In 2017, NDOT developed a prioritized project list by conducting
extensive public and community outreach to identify critical needs
in the sidewalk and bikeway networks. Connectivity and safety were
consistently identified as the top two critical needs. The 12th Avenue
South Complete and Green Streets Project was ranked first on the
2017 WalknBike Plan priority list, because while the existing corridor
had bike lanes, a majority did not provide a safe and comfortable Left: new water line replacement
connection for riders of all ages and abilities. construction. Below: new protected bike
The project sat on the priority list until LDA Engineering was hired lane for users of all ages and abilities.
by NDOT in 2020. When LDA was selected to lead the Sidewalk and
Bikeways Program, one of our first tasks was to work with NDOT to
reevaluate the sidewalk and bikeway prioritization criteria.
Following an extensive community and stakeholder engagement
effort including councilmember engagements, steering committee
meetings with 22 organizations, a 16-member focus group, and
community surveys touching more than 10,000 individuals, LDA
identified four key critical needs to guide project prioritization. These
are safety, connectivity, access to transit, and health and equity.
WalknBike 2022
Our next task was to develop WalknBike 2022, an update to the 2017 Left: new urban bioretention islands installed
plan, that included a three-year priority project list. After confirming to improve water quantity and quality.
the criticality of the 12th Avenue South Complete and Green Streets
Project, our team made a commitment to deliver the project within
one year.
While we understood one year was an aggressive timeline and
the project would require substantial coordination with the NDOT
Paving Program, WeGo Public Transit, Metro Water Services (MWS),
and several existing utility providers, our team also understood the
importance of this project to the Nashville community. To accomplish
the aggressive schedule, LDA coordinated the project utilizing five
existing Metro on-call contracts as a part of the integrated delivery
process. Above: new WeGo Public Transit stops. There
The completed project brings the Nashville community a 1.6-mile are 16 bus stop upgrades within this project.
section of upgraded infrastructure, including a road diet to introduce Left: new pedestrian safety improvements
protected and dedicated bike lanes, green stormwater infrastructure, including signalized crossings.
20 TPW July/August 2023