Several safety improvements are planned in conjunction with a repaving project with minimal additional cost or reconfiguration of the roadway or its operations. The improvements both directly address the circumstances of previous crashes and encourage lower speeds to accompany the proposed speed limit reduction.
Bell Road Speed Study Executive Summary
Bell Road Safety Improvements
- Lower the speed limit from 50 to 40 from Smith Springs Road to Couchville Pike to better match speed limits of the adjacent segments and the current volumes, signal density, and conflict points
- Remove 16 segments of guardrail
- Replace 8 segments of damaged guardrail
- Remove trees from 8 different clear zones
- Regrade Shoulders
- Install Supplemental Signs
- Install reflective elements on guardrails, especially at intersections and in curves
Repaving of Bell Road from Smith Springs Road to Blackwood Drive/Stewarts Ferry Pike is tentatively scheduled for late spring 2025. Once paving is complete the following improvements will be implemented:
- Restripe road with buffer between bike lane and road
- Relocate rumble strips from the shoulder to the centerline of the roadway
- Add chevrons and advisory speeds
- Reconfigure the cycle lane to the edge of pavement where possible to allow a buffer between the cycle lane and vehicle lane
- Vertical delineation of the cycle lane at conflict points (turn lanes, intersections, etc)
- Elimination or reconfiguration of channelized right turn lanes
- Wider striping
- Reflective centerline markers, especially near curves
The striping and bikeway design plans will be published once they become available.
Project Description
NDOT guardrail, traffic engineering, and new development divisions have collaborated to come up with a new design plan with safety in mind to reduce crashes and repeated damage to existing guardrail. With Vision Zero in mind, the new striping will add some distance between the vehicular traffic and bike lane.
Goals of Project:
- Reduce number of collisions on Bell Road
- Increase safety of pedestrians and cyclists
- Reduce amount of guardrail repairs
Project Background
The Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT) Bridge and Guardrail Program received several service requests to repair damaged guardrail along Bell Road between Murfreesboro Pike and South New Hope Road. In the past 6 years, NDOT has spent over $600,000 on repairing guardrails on Bell Road alone.
Bell Road between Smith Springs Road and Couchville Pike has experienced 19 fatal and serious injury crashes since 2015. A small portion of the southern end of the segment is on the High Injury Network, but crashes have occurred along the full length of the segment with a variety of causes.