South Nashville road shrinking to 1 lane in each direction for NDOT study
Starting this week, East Thompson Lane will look a lot different as part of a city test to make streets safer.
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'A lot of people say East Thompson Lane is known for speeders,' South Nashville resident Sarah Tolentino said.
'It's really not safe for people to get from the neighborhoods to the park, to the grocery store and things without a car,' District 16 Council Member Ginny Welsch explained.
Right now, East Thompson Lane has two lanes in each direction, but that's about to change temporarily.
Starting Thursday, it'll be one lane each way to make room for a protected lane for walkers and bikers. For five days, from Thursday to Monday, NDOT will be testing a new layout along East Thompson Lane.
The goal is to create a safer space for people without the cost of building new sidewalks.
NDOT told that adding sidewalks would be too expensive, so this temporary design will help them determine if fewer traffic lanes could work.
'It will improve safety and add more mobility options,' NDOT Walking and Biking Manager Anna Dearman explained.
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The demonstration is partly in response to serious crashes.
NDOT reported that from 2019 to 2023, eight people were killed on this stretch: four pedestrians and four drivers. But those numbers continued to rise.
'In June 2024, we saw another pedestrian fatality, and then in June 2025, we saw another driver fatality, so that number has gone up to 10,' Dearman said.
To test out the study, a community bike ride is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. from Whitsett Park.
But not everyone is on board.
Tolentino told News 2 she is worried about traffic delays and questions whether pedestrian paths are even needed, especially with a busy train track already slowing things down.
'In the last 20 years that we have lived here, I can think of maybe 12 cases that I have seen bikes go up and down that street,' Tolentino said.
'When the train hits, and it is going to be one lane in both directions, it is going to be all the way to Murfreesboro Road on one end and to Thompson Lane on the other,' Tolentino explained. 'So I cannot imagine all the difficulties of having to wait for traffic to settle down.'
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NDOT will be collecting public feedback. If this trial goes well, construction on a permanent version could start in 2026.
'This is just to give people a taste of this is what we can do. We are looking for measures to make this safer, to make it more pedestrian friendly,' Welsch concluded.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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