NDOT presents Greenwood Avenue traffic-calming plan; residents push back on speed cushions
January 19, 2026 | Department of Transportation (NDOT) Meetings, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee
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On Jan. 19, 2026, the Nashville Department of Transportation held a virtual public meeting to present preliminary traffic‑calming plans for Greenwood Avenue between Scott Avenue and Porter Road and to gather local input.
David Greavves, a civil engineer with NDOT’s Neighborhood Street Traffic Calming program, opened the meeting and said the agency had measured the corridor and prepared a concept showing bulbouts at Scott & Greenwood and three sets of vertical speed cushions spaced roughly 300–500 feet apart. Greavves said the project was chosen in September 2025 from a backlog of applicant streets and that NDOT typically selects 25 streets every six months for design work.
NDOT presented the safety rationale and corridor data. Greavves tied the program to Vision Zero goals and cited a safety graphic from the National Transportation Safety Board showing higher speeds reduce pedestrian survivability. He reported Greenwood’s 85th‑percentile speed at 32 mph, about 3,400 vehicles per day, and a pavement width near 28 feet — factors that affect which calming tools are feasible.
The agency described available tools and tradeoffs. Greavves said speed cushions are NDOT’s most common vertical treatment because they slow most passenger vehicles while allowing larger emergency vehicles to straddle the cushion. He also reviewed speed tables, radar feedback signs (informational only), visual lane‑narrowing with pavement markings, pilot ‘‘slow‑safer shoulders’’ where sidewalks are missing, bulbouts to tighten intersection turns, chicanes to create horizontal deflection and neighborhood traffic circles. Greavves cited a limited 2023 study NDOT carried out showing average speeds falling from 31 mph to 22 mph after installations as evidence these measures can be effective.
Residents raised objections to cushions and asked NDOT to prioritize horizontal measures. Brock, a Greenwood resident, said he dislikes speed cushions and prefers roundabouts or landscaped bulbouts, calling cushions “tacky” and describing broad community distaste for vertical devices. “I do not like them,” he said, urging alternatives such as a mini roundabout or bulbouts that could also be landscaped.
Melissa, another resident, warned that cushions can divert traffic onto neighboring side streets and increase congestion and hazards there. “I often have observed that it pushes traffic onto other streets,” she said; NDOT acknowledged diversion can occur and said the agency considers neighborhood network effects when selecting treatments.
NDOT responded that cushions were shown on the preliminary concept so residents absent from the meeting could see the option, but noted the ballot process gives adjacent property owners the power to reject vertical measures. Greavves explained that after NDOT develops construction plans it will mail ballots to property owners whose lots touch the affected right‑of‑way (residences, churches and schools); ballots are open for six weeks, one vote per property, and vertical measures require roughly two‑thirds approval to proceed. If two‑thirds approval is not reached, NDOT will advance a design that does not rely on speed cushions.
On technical next steps, NDOT said staff will perform more detailed field measurements of the roadway and curbline, test feasibility for chicanes and other horizontal measures (noting some segments of Greenwood are narrower than others), and return to a second public meeting with refined plans before the mail ballot and any construction.
Participants also raised implementation questions: one resident said only half of newly striped parking had been painted after an earlier parking change and reported filing an INDOT ticket; NDOT said striping sometimes waits until design decisions are final to avoid repeated changes and offered to coordinate with the council office.
The meeting closed with NDOT thanking neighbors for feedback and committing to return with detailed designs and a follow‑up meeting before the ballot. No formal votes or binding decisions were taken at the Jan. 19 session.
David Greavves, a civil engineer with NDOT’s Neighborhood Street Traffic Calming program, opened the meeting and said the agency had measured the corridor and prepared a concept showing bulbouts at Scott & Greenwood and three sets of vertical speed cushions spaced roughly 300–500 feet apart. Greavves said the project was chosen in September 2025 from a backlog of applicant streets and that NDOT typically selects 25 streets every six months for design work.
NDOT presented the safety rationale and corridor data. Greavves tied the program to Vision Zero goals and cited a safety graphic from the National Transportation Safety Board showing higher speeds reduce pedestrian survivability. He reported Greenwood’s 85th‑percentile speed at 32 mph, about 3,400 vehicles per day, and a pavement width near 28 feet — factors that affect which calming tools are feasible.
The agency described available tools and tradeoffs. Greavves said speed cushions are NDOT’s most common vertical treatment because they slow most passenger vehicles while allowing larger emergency vehicles to straddle the cushion. He also reviewed speed tables, radar feedback signs (informational only), visual lane‑narrowing with pavement markings, pilot ‘‘slow‑safer shoulders’’ where sidewalks are missing, bulbouts to tighten intersection turns, chicanes to create horizontal deflection and neighborhood traffic circles. Greavves cited a limited 2023 study NDOT carried out showing average speeds falling from 31 mph to 22 mph after installations as evidence these measures can be effective.
Residents raised objections to cushions and asked NDOT to prioritize horizontal measures. Brock, a Greenwood resident, said he dislikes speed cushions and prefers roundabouts or landscaped bulbouts, calling cushions “tacky” and describing broad community distaste for vertical devices. “I do not like them,” he said, urging alternatives such as a mini roundabout or bulbouts that could also be landscaped.
Melissa, another resident, warned that cushions can divert traffic onto neighboring side streets and increase congestion and hazards there. “I often have observed that it pushes traffic onto other streets,” she said; NDOT acknowledged diversion can occur and said the agency considers neighborhood network effects when selecting treatments.
NDOT responded that cushions were shown on the preliminary concept so residents absent from the meeting could see the option, but noted the ballot process gives adjacent property owners the power to reject vertical measures. Greavves explained that after NDOT develops construction plans it will mail ballots to property owners whose lots touch the affected right‑of‑way (residences, churches and schools); ballots are open for six weeks, one vote per property, and vertical measures require roughly two‑thirds approval to proceed. If two‑thirds approval is not reached, NDOT will advance a design that does not rely on speed cushions.
On technical next steps, NDOT said staff will perform more detailed field measurements of the roadway and curbline, test feasibility for chicanes and other horizontal measures (noting some segments of Greenwood are narrower than others), and return to a second public meeting with refined plans before the mail ballot and any construction.
Participants also raised implementation questions: one resident said only half of newly striped parking had been painted after an earlier parking change and reported filing an INDOT ticket; NDOT said striping sometimes waits until design decisions are final to avoid repeated changes and offered to coordinate with the council office.
The meeting closed with NDOT thanking neighbors for feedback and committing to return with detailed designs and a follow‑up meeting before the ballot. No formal votes or binding decisions were taken at the Jan. 19 session.
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