NDOT proposes speed cushions, radar signs and lane narrowing for Ben Allen Road to curb speeding

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — At a virtual meeting on June 9, 2025, the Nashville Department of Transportation (NDOT) presented a draft traffic‑calming design for Ben Allen Road that would add speed cushions, radar feedback signs and painted edge‑line narrowing on the widest sections to reduce neighborhood speeds and improve pedestrian safety.

NDOT facilitator David Greaves said the project was selected from more than 600 neighborhood applications and ranked in the city’s top 25 for traffic calming; he cited NDOT field measurements showing about 440 vehicles per day with an 80th‑percentile speed near 40 mph on parts of Ben Allen. "They're about 3 inches high, they're 6 feet wide, and they come in a variety of lengths, seven‑fourteen feet," Greaves said of the speed cushions the department commonly uses.

The plan Greaves walked through includes sets of speed cushions placed just past Highlander Drive and at the bottom of a steep hill, a cluster of four cushions flanking a newer apartment complex, radar feedback signs in locations too steep or curved for vertical measures, and edge‑line narrowing across a 42‑foot bridge near Ellington Parkway. Greaves said…