NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — As work continues along Nashville's East Bank, some think not every option for the main roadway through the development is getting a fair chance.

In 2022, Metro released the "Imagine East Bank Vision Plan," which includes three alternatives for East Bank Boulevard — the main road through the project. A six-lane concept includes two lanes for cars in either direction and one bus lane in either direction with protected bike lanes, and there are two four-lane options included within the plan.

At a Tuesday Vision Zero Advisory Committee, Katherine McDonnell — who chairs the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission — spoke up and said that she thinks leaders have favored the six-lane alternative over the four-lane options. McDonnell added that she previously served on the Vision Zero Advisory Committee, which studied "high-injury networks" across Nashville, and finds the six-lane design too wide to align with Vision Zero's mission of reducing injuries and fatalities along Music City's roads.

"Why we're proposing to build a brand-new piece of our high-injury network in a brand-new neighborhood where we can build anything?" McDonnell said. "[It] really contradicts all the efforts that have been made until this point to go in the opposite direction in trying to reduce people from dying on our roadways."

“This should not even be a finalized design at this point," McDonnell said. "There are three options on the table and I think what we want is a fair conversation around those three options."

The Nashville Mayor's Office sent News 2 a statement:

"The mayor's office doesn't build roads, so we don't have a position other than being supportive of a public comment process that has been ongoing for weeks.

The East Bank team will take all shared feedback to create a database on the input. That work follows the remarkably robust public engagement process that informed the Imagine East Bank master plan."

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/middle-tn-neighborhood-news/east-bank-blvd-design-process-concerns/