NDOT proposes three speed-cushion sets for Garfield Street after speed study finds 32 mph 85th-percentile

Amy Birch, a traffic engineer and consultant for the Nashville Department of Transportation (NDOT), told neighborhood attendees at a hybrid meeting that NDOT staff plan to move a preliminary traffic‑calming concept for Garfield Street into detailed engineering and a resident ballot after gathering feedback.

Birch said the project area runs on Garfield Street between Rosa Parks and Third Avenue and that a recent speed study found the 85th‑percentile speed at about 32 miles per hour and two‑direction traffic volumes near 3,500 vehicles per day. "That means 15% of the traffic is going above 32 miles per hour," Birch said, adding the department measured sidewalks on both sides of the street and an existing bikeway.

The proposed fix is three sets of rubber speed cushions, one cushion per lane, spaced about 300 to 600 feet apart on Garfield between Rosa Parks and Fifth Avenue. Birch said the cushions fit within existing 10‑foot lanes and were selected because they slow most passenger vehicles while allowing wider‑wheelbase emergency…