NDOT proposes speed cushions, ballot vote and lengthy queue for Cedarmont Drive traffic-calming project

The Nashville Department of Transportation on the evening of the recorded neighborhood meeting presented a preliminary traffic-calming plan for Cedarmont Drive that centers on speed cushions, asks property owners to vote in an online ballot and estimates a months-long wait for construction.

NDOT consultant Jeff Hammond described the agency's recommended package for the one-mile corridor as eight sets of speed cushions spaced about 500 feet apart, placed so they slow traffic without pushing it onto nearby streets. “We look at that relative to all the other, streets that we collected as well. You have, about 3,500 cars a day on the street,” Hammond said while presenting the department’s data and map of the proposed locations.

NDOT said the street’s high-percentile speed is 35 mph and that Cedarmont carries roughly 3,500 vehicles per day; Hammond said NDOT’s program typically works on streets with up to about 5,000 vehicles daily. The department described speed cushions as the primary tool because they slow most passenger vehicles while affecting large-wheelbase emergency vehicles much less.

Why it matters: Neighbors told the agency that speeding, running the four-way stop at Cedarmont Circle and occasional rollovers into a roadside storm culvert have made the corridor…