Nashville DOT presents detailed traffic-calming plan for Ben Allen Road; mailed ballot to residents coming soon

David Greaves, an engineer with the Nashville Department of Transportation's neighborhood street traffic calming program, on Aug. 27 presented a detailed design for traffic calming on Ben Allen Road and said ballots will be mailed to eligible property owners soon.

Greaves said the project stretches from Dickerson Pike to Hart Lane and across Ellington Parkway, and is intended primarily to reduce vehicle speeds on the residential corridor as part of the city’s Vision Zero efforts. “Like we discussed last time, this is a really popular program,” Greaves said.

The design uses a mix of physical and visual measures. The plan calls for modular rubber speed cushions bolted to existing asphalt, placed in series where grades, driveways and curves allow. Greaves explained the cushions are designed to target speeds of about 20–25 miles per hour and come in six-foot widths so wider-wheelbase emergency vehicles are less affected. Typical spacing in the denser residential stretches is about 300 feet; Greaves said some gaps exceed the program’s preferred spacing because of steep grades, tight curves and clusters of driveways.

Where cushions are infeasible, the plan relies on radar feedback signs to remind drivers to slow down. In sections that widen near Ellington Parkway, the team proposes pavement narrowing through striping to reduce the perceived lane width, and a set of three cushions across wider pavement sections. At one intersection near Hillside Road, the plan includes bulb-outs that tighten turning radii to about 20 feet and lane widths narrowed to 10 feet on Hillside and the north side of Ben Allen, intended to slow turning speeds and shorten pedestrian crossing distances.

A neighborhood attendee, Joel Sims, identified himself as the pastor at the church on the corner and asked whether the corner work involved widening. “Is that on the corner of Ben Island and Hillside? Are you widening?” Sims asked. Greaves replied that the intersection’s operation would not change: “So the way that the intersection is used will not change at all. So it's still gonna have the stop sign here…and basically what will happen out there is paint and some flexible delineators to shrink the intersection a bit, but not remove any of its function.”

Greaves described construction details for installation and said the project team adjusted placements after a field visit to confirm grades and driveway locations. The plan avoids placing cushions within 15 feet of driveways so vehicles can turn without traversing the device.

Greaves also outlined the program’s balloting process. The department will mail ballots with unique ID codes to owners of residential properties, churches and schools that abut the affected right of way; businesses and vacant lots are not eligible. Each eligible recipient receives a single vote; the project must receive at least 66% “yes” among returned, verified ballots to enter the construction queue. Greaves said ballots will be open for a fixed window of roughly six weeks and results will be published after votes are tallied. If approved, construction is expected to begin in about eight to ten months, pending placement on the department’s construction queue.

Greaves closed the meeting by asking attendees to alert neighbors who do not receive a ballot; he provided a project email contact and said the department will publish results after the voting period.