BELLE MEADE BOULEVARD BEAUTIFICATION AND PEDESTRIAN PLAN
Click Here to see the Proposed Pedestrian Design for Belle Meade Boulevard
Click to view Boulevard Project Overview
Slides (January 2025)
Click Here for more information on the schedule for design and project planning
(Letter dated March 17, 2025)
Click to see Community Feedback Survey results (June 2022)
The project is currently in the engineering design phase. The word “final” denotes that this is the recommended proposed concept out of many different ones that were previously under consideration. This proposed “final” concept is the one that the consultants will guide them for the next phase of engineering studies. Currently, consultants are gathering survey data that tells us what utility lines (water, gas, irrigation, etc.) will need to be moved or avoided as a part of the design. They are also taking geological samples of the soil in the medians to better understand how the medians can be improved to better retain stormwater to improve the drainage along the Boulevard.
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Description: The City of Belle Meade intends to make safety improvements for vehicles and pedestrians to Belle Meade Boulevard from Harding Place to Page Road. The project would provide a 5-foot wide paved surface for pedestrians along the outer edge of the median that would be protected from the adjacent vehicle lane with a low-height (approximately 6-8 inches tall), 1-foot wide buffer (final material not yet selected). The current vehicle lanes in this segment of Belle Meade Boulevard vary from 9’ wide at the narrowest to 9.5’ or 10’ in width in portions. The project proposes to narrow all lanes to a consistent 9’ width. There are no proposed changes to the outer roadway design (i.e. no impacts to driveways or mailboxes of residents along Belle Meade Boulevard).
Proposed changes to the roadway include changing the location of striping on the existing paved surface and by taking, only as needed, from the median on either side to create the additional area needed to widen the existing paved surface and install the 1’ buffer and 5’ walking path.
Changes to existing crosswalks are anticipated but no design decisions have been made just yet; currently the City has only received working drafts/conceptual plans for how the City may consider changing the surface materials in these areas, in a way that would give a visible cue or alert drivers to slow down and anticipate pedestrians. For example, a colored, stamped asphalt in a different pattern or installation of a section of permeable pavers are under consideration to create a different look and pattern to the open breaks in the median where pedestrians will be crossing and have the potential for conflicts with vehicles making turning movements.
Beautification Plan for the Medians: Belle Meade Boulevard has a series of 38 medians from it’s northern end at Harding Pike to its southern end at Page Road. As part of the construction project to develop a wider walking pathway along the edges of the medians, the City intends to additionally improve the medians by creating a new, consistent pattern of landscaping and hardscape elements. The design vision has been developed with the City’s Beautification Committee (Society of Ceres).
Click to view the Beautification Concepts for Boulevard Medians – Beautification Concepts for Belle Meade Blvd 04 19 2023
Cost Estimate: A preliminary estimate has been prepared for planning and budgeting purposes (prior to survey and preliminary engineering design) is approximately $3.5 – $3.8 million based upon several assumptions and without decisions yet being made on final materials and quantities needed
Sources of Funding: 100% City/local funding with General Fund reserves
Project Timeline: In earnest, since 2019, the City of Belle Meade has been engaging with the community around how to improve safety for all users of Belle Meade Boulevard, including reducing speeding and the potential for conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians. Much of the community’s vision and feedback has been documented in the Belle Meade Together Plan, which was developed over two years of study, and over 750 individual comments were received in response to a pedestrian path, in the median of Belle Meade Blvd, demonstration project that was conducted on Belle Meade Boulevard with the assistance of the Nashville’s Civic Design Center in 2022. In brief, the outcome of the demonstration project was that a pedestrian path in the median itself was not supported by the majority of the community. Although widespread support for a better, safer pedestrian path was still desired and needed by many residents.
In March 2024, an engineering design team with KCI Engineering was engaged to produce a conceptual design with the goal of making a safer walking path in the same location where pedestrians are walking today, along the outside edge of the median, while also looking at providing traffic calming and taking a fresh look at the location and number of crosswalks along Belle Meade Boulevard. Additionally, the City’s beautification committee (the Ceres Society) was engaged to make recommendations for beautification improvements within the median from its start at Harding Place to its terminus at Page Road and the entrance of Warner Park. This work was delivered in an advertised and open public meeting held on May 7, 2024 at City Hall. During the meeting, Commissioners asked for several revisions and for one final concept incorporating all revisions to be drafted. The final concept was delivered in an advertised and open public meeting held June 10, 2024 at City Hall. With delivery of the final concept and an engineer’s opinion of probable cost for the construction, the Board of Commissioners requested the City Manager work with the engineering team to develop a new engineering services proposal that would include full design, bidding and construction services.
At the Board’s regular meeting on August 21, 2024, the Board unanimously approved an engineering proposal for services, totaling $330,470, to carry the project to the next step in its design. Consulting engineers have been contracted to perform survey and preliminary engineering work needed to better understand how electric and stormwater utility infrastructure in the median may or may not alter the proposed design and its anticipated costs and timeline for construction. Once the preliminary engineering is complete, the Board of Commissioners will receive a presentation with a revised (if needed) design and an updated preliminary cost estimate. Then, if the Board of Commissioners approve the project to continue, the engineering team will complete final design and deliver construction plans as well as assist the city during the project’s construction with project management and utility coordination services.
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