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Chris Bowe

@cbowe34.bsky.social

190 followers 370 following 500 posts

Father - Husband - Urbanist - Civil Engineer - Transit Enthusiast - Pro-Housing - Safe Streets - Metro Vision Zero Advisory Committee Member - Nashvillian My thoughts are my own and do not reflect any other organization's opinion

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Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 34m

If I’m remembering correctly, our committee was authorized by council via the approval of NDOT’s Vision Zero Action Plan. Establishment of VZAC was one of the actions contained in the plan, but I don’t think there was legislation specific to the committee.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 10h

Couldn’t agree more! I’d like for the various NDOT related committees to prepare some draft recommendations for the program by EOY.

Director Alarcon says that they’re working on some streamlining internally and will have more info by our January meeting!

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 11h

Correction: NDOT now does the fatal crash site visits and reports in-house. No consultants were involved in this case.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

The committee moves to discourage the use of those signs and to remove them on 3rd Ave. It is unanimously approved by voice vote.

We are adjourned!

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

VZAC Kim U is now recommending that we remove the "Make Eye Contact" signs that have been proliferating around downtown and on 3rd Ave.

She feels that the cartoon nature of the signs trivializes the fatal crash that recently occurred there and isn't productive in any case.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

VZAC Austin with an awesome recommendation to add a "Near Miss Reporter" through HubNashville to inform problem areas BEFORE tragedy strikes.

Hopefully that no-brainer utility gets added quickly!

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

Now we're discussing when we will meet next month. Our regular meeting time is unavailable due to it being Veteran's Day.

This is critical business since we can't just chit chat amongst each other outside of meetings anymore!

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

Although the community is supportive of just keeping the stop signs, that would violate traffic engineering standards.

Cool system we have here.

Anyway, the HAWK is cool but probably unnecessary for this context.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

Moving on to 3rd Ave - the HAWK beacon (PHB) is still scheduled to be installed by the end of the year.

Raised crosswalks are also in design.

Apparently the stop signs that were recently installed do not meet MUTCD and is not technically warranted.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

Follow up on Ewing Drive!

VZAC wrote a letter supporting an additional speed limit reduction on Ewing down to 30 mph, which was recently lowered from 40 to 35.

NDOT has initiated a pilot traffic calming project on Ewing near Gwynnwood as well. Not a lot of details, but good news!

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

CM Nash is here to advocate to us and to the NDOT staff present for a speed reduction on Haywood Ln. We will strongly support any future speed limit reductions on this street

cc: @neilkornutick.bsky.social

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

Robin is now holding court on the lack of equity in the city's response to fatal crashes.

NDOT shares the challenges they face in responding to so many unique issues across the county.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

VZAC Robin now speaking from the heart about the need for a more standardized response to pedestrian deaths countywide.

Previous deaths on this road make it clear that this road is too dangerous to remain as is. Will anything happen in the wake of this latest tragedy?

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

NDOT Val reviews the area and some short term improvements including signage, speed study, striping, etc.

Lighting is an issue and visibility is difficult due to a large hill. Speeding is pervasive and none of the short term interventions seem to impact speed significantly.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

But we are on to subcommittee "reports".

Fatal crash is first - VZAC Robin takes the floor to discuss a death in her neighborhood on Haywood Ln. NDOT and its consultant conducted a site visit and prepared a report on the crash.

She says this is the third fatality on Haywood Ln.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 14h

Subcommittees - required to meet on Metro property, publicly noticed two weeks in advance with an agenda.

We won't be able to meet in our previous informal way that was essentially a monthly public video conference. It will likely be a few months before we can figure out a manageable solution.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 15h

Requests a case study of when Dickerson Pike intersection improvements design started, how much has been spent to date, when design is expected to be complete, etc.

NDOT says they can provide some additional information in future meetings.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 15h

VZAC Lindsey brings up a specific project, Dickerson Pike intersection improvements as a case study for how the budget process works.

She says WalkBikeNashville assisted in a study going back to 2019, and she knows of money that was dedicated to the project, but we haven't seen anything yet.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 15h

VZAC Charlie asks about whether NDOT is using IDIQ design contracts, and I have to admit I do not know what that means.

Here's what Wikipedia says:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDIQ

IDIQ - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 15h

Hopefully this money (requested, not approved) can help make it the rule and not the exception moving forward!

NDOT is currently working on building the in-house staff to handle more of those types of quick builds without involving consultants for design.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 15h

$700,000 will be requested for "Safety/Repaving" - these are "bolt on" projects that VZ dollars can execute during a repaving effort to add bike lanes or improved striping.

This is a process that we have long heard about, but which we have not seen many examples in real life.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 15h

$420,000 will be requested for "Enforcement" which is meant to augment MNPD's budget for safety focused enforcement efforts. Director Alarcon offered an example of an area that sees a trend of increased DUI's - police can set up a check point with VZ dollars to attempt to correct the trend.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 15h

Usually budget updates include dollar figures for individual projects, but we have not seen those types of materials presented to date.

NDOT is working on a new project management solution that might help those data be available to us on the committee.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 15h

VZAC Lindsey speaking now about how the budget updates we get have not been easy to understand. Asks that we work towards a standard reporting structure and format that all the NDOT committees can use as a reference.

Right now, we have no idea how much money has been spent on what or when.

Chris Bowe @cbowe34.bsky.social · 15h

There are three statuses that indicate future work: Planned, Scheduled, and Future. It's unclear what each different category means compared to each other. Scheduled are the most definite, imminent project. Future is the least certain, but kept on the list so nothing gets lost.