Melissa Hayes, a traffic engineer with the Nashville Department of Transportation (NDOT), and Meredith King, a traffic engineer with Arcadis, presented a draft access management manual to the Metropolitan Council Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, outlining proposed spacing, corner‑clearance and administrative changes to how the city regulates driveways and other vehicle access to public roadways.

The manual, prepared over roughly a year and a half, aims to consolidate requirements now split between municipal code chapters 13 and 17 into a single, authoritative access manual and to prioritize safety and context‑sensitive guidance for urban and downtown street environments rather than relying only on Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) standards geared to higher‑speed state routes. “Adequate access management can reduce conflict points, increase roadway capacity, reduce travel times and delays, and increase property values,” Hayes said during the presentation.

City staff told the committee they identified three primary challenges: access rules are dispersed across two code chapters and contain discrepancies that confuse reviewers and applicants; TDOT guidance focuses on interstates and higher‑classification facilities and does not translate well to downtown and urban contexts; and the current local requirements do not sufficiently emphasize safety or multimodal conditions, a goal tied to the city’s Vision Zero work (Vision Zero action plan strategy 2 was cited in the presentation).

Key technical proposals described in the presentation include:

- Driveway spacing: maintain a 25‑foot spacing on local streets for single‑family and two‑family lots to accommodate smaller lot widths; adopt 30‑foot spacing for collectors and for certain non‑single‑family development contexts. The presenters said a matrix will further vary spacing by whether access is full or restricted and by roadway functional class.

- Intersection/corner clearances: add a required arterial corner‑clearance standard of 185 feet (the code previously specified 15 feet on locals and 50 feet on collectors and had no arterial standard for single‑family access). For non‑single‑family developments the manual uses a matrix similar to TDOT and peer manuals (for example, two connecting arterials would require about 200 feet; two local streets, about 50 feet).

- Interchange spacing: retain a 250‑foot minimum spacing requirement and recommend meeting TDOT ramp and interchange spacing standards where state routes are involved.

- Multimodal/downtown guidance: the manual emphasizes avoiding new access placements at or near bus stops and transit priority corridors, prioritizing alleys and local streets for vehicle access in dense areas, and providing design guidance for high‑pedestrian locations such as garage entrances.

- Waiver and administration: NDOT and the consultants proposed an expanded access waiver process. If NDOT denies a proposed access, a developer may submit a waiver form to Traffic and Parking that documents trip generation, existing facilities, crash history on the frontage and a comparison of proposed vs. required standards to support a holistic review.

The consultants described their research base as five peer jurisdictions, state agency manuals including TDOT’s highway system access manual, and industry resources such as the Transportation Research Board, AASHTO and CHRP. They also noted three internal and three external stakeholder meetings held as part of the project.

When Council Member Allen asked about curb aprons and how apron lip size affects bicyclists and strollers, Hayes said sidewalk and pedestrian details were covered in best‑practice guidance but that the project does not change NDOT’s detailed design standards. Brad Fries of the Nashville Department of Transportation added that loading operations and related curbside impacts are reviewed operationally outside the manual and that staff seek to locate loading on private property when possible. “We do always try to capture as much on private property as far as loading, especially when you're talking about the downtown street network,” Fries said.

The staff proposal to implement the manual included striking the access provisions currently in chapters 13 and 17 of the municipal code and adding an authorizing statement in chapter 13 to make the manual the controlling requirement, with a companion statement that describes the waiver process. Hayes said staff hope to submit formal code changes by the end of the month, pending review by Metro Legal, and to publish the manual on NDOT’s project webpage (nashville.gov under NDOT). She also offered a one‑page flyer summarizing the matrices for committee members and said the full manual and peer‑city review materials will be available on the project web page.

The presentation was for committee information and no formal action on the manual or code changes was taken at the meeting. Committee members were invited to review the matrices and follow up with staff with questions.