NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It’s not normal to find kids riding their bikes or families walking their dogs down the middle of a busy street, but you’ll be able to see it this weekend in East Nashville.
It’s part of the annual event Open Streets Nashville happening this Sunday, October 30 from 12 p.m. until 5 p.m. between Fifth and 10th Streets on Main Street in East Nashville.
It comes during a broader push to make Nashville more pedestrian friendly. Organizers want people to reimagine all that roads can be used for during Open Streets.
It's free and open to all ages and there’s even going to be candy for trick-or-treaters. There will also be temporary protected bike lanes added on Fifth and Shelby Avenue.
Naffie Njie with Walk Bike Nashville said she hopes people come to see what the neighborhood is like and enjoy live music and activities and get a realization of what the area can offer.
She said an event like this is something that can inspire impactful change in a community and spur ideas for future roadway, sidewalk and bike infrastructure improvements.
"It’s life or death when it comes to these issues. The more we create the infrastructure for people to get around safely outside of cars, we will see less deaths, that is the goal with Vision Zero," said Njie.
Walk Bike Nashville continues to work with Metro Nashville and Mayor John Cooper on the Vision Zero plan to one day have no pedestrian deaths. So far this year there have been 37 pedestrians killed, according to Walk Bike Nashville.
"We just want to make sure we continue to fight for transportation justice and multimodal transportation in a real way and we want to see less people dying and hit on the road," said Njie.
