Step on a Crack — and Then Fix It

Nashville’s traffic and lack of sidewalks and bike lanes have been a problem for years — something that Mary Johnston saw up close during a walk audit last fall.

“It was just a mess,” says Johnston, 72, an AARP member who participated in the audit with her husband, Carey Rogers, and has lived in the Inglewood neighborhood for 35 years.

Walk audits are conducted to evaluate whether pedestrians can safely travel along streets and through intersections. The couple were joined by other residents, AARP members and local officials. They used an AARP walk audit tool kit that is often used in locales that are in AARP’s Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities, which Nashville joined in 2022.

Johnston says that on their audit, a sidewalk abruptly ended and they had to navigate railroad tracks. Johnston and her husband enjoy walking and biking, but speeding cars and a lack of sidewalks or bike lanes can limit those activities.

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell is bullish on multimodal transportation, and the Nashville transportation department is working on new sidewalks. Two Metropolitan Council members were on the audit.

According to Kendra Abkowitz, chief sustainability officer in the mayor’s office of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, audit data will inform the city’s upcoming walkability and intersection projects. It will also provide evidence and support for dedicated funding the mayor’s office will pursue for transportation projects.

“Understanding opportunities for improvement in sidewalks, pedestrian crossings and other safety measures as we move through this process is important,” Abkowitz wrote in an email.

Two more AARP audits are set for 2024.

— Stacey Shepard