Nashville Metro Public Works developed the 28th/31st Avenue Connector as a highly visible, sustainable "complete street," meaning the design not only accommodates vehicles and transit, but pedestrians and cyclists within a limited right-of-way, plus "green street" stormwater management.

The 28th/31st Avenue Connector project is a new 0.3-mile roadway that includes a railroad overpass. It reunites the North Nashville and West Nashville communities that were disconnected by the development of the interstate highway system in the 1960s.

One of the most important aspects of the project was the social reconnection of the two communities through active participation in planning workshops and meetings. Neighbors worked side-by-side to create the "quilt patterns" represented in the public art now on the bridge.

Nashville Metro Public Works developed the project as a highly visible, sustainable "complete street," meaning the design not only accommodates vehicles and transit, but pedestrians and cyclists within a limited right-of-way, while also allowing "green street" stormwater management. This complete street concept provides safe usage for each transportation group. Bicyclists are accommodated with the first protected, separated bike lane for the city of Nashville. The bike path along each side of the road used an integral colored concrete surface to distinguish it from the adjacent pedestrian sidewalk. Solar LED lane pavement markers further delineate the bike lane.

The roadway design narrowed the street to 11-foot lanes, versus the standard 12-ft. width, affording landscaped medians for much of the route, thereby reducing the amount of impervious surface. Accommodations for transit riders along the corridor are artist designed transit stops. The new transit route, called the "University Connector," does just that: connects to higher education institutions along the route.

The roadway design narrowed the street to 11-foot lanes from the standard 12-ft. width, affording a median for much of the route, thereby reducing the amount of impervious surface. The bioretention medians include plantings of Juncus (soft rushes), irises, Hypericum, China holly, dwarf inkberry, dwarf Virginia sweetspire, blackeyed Susans, Gray's sedge and red switchgrass. The turf bordering the route is hybrid fescue.

Design features include use of a historic parapet wall on both sides of the connector to represent the columns from adjacent civic institutions. A required 8-ft. railroad protection fencing was designed using stainless steel mesh panels that double as a canvas for the major integrated public art piece.

While this was not the first time Nashville Metro Public Works incorporated art into a public works project, this was the first use of "Percent for Art" dollars. The Metro Arts Commission provided over $500,000 toward the work. The theme of the bridge centers on connectivity. Using sewing, thread and weaving together as metaphors, David Dahlquist's art speaks to the underlying purpose of the bridge and the project as a whole. Threads are woven through the stainless steel panels and join the community design quilt panels embedded within the bridge fencing to symbolically tie the communities back together.

LED lighting was specified for the overpass fence railing and the bus shelter, which was designed and fabricated by RDG Planning and Design.

Green street aspects of stormwater are incorporated through the design with street side linear bioretention areas and bioswales in the medians that run the length of the project. Curb cuts and dissipators direct stormwater to the bioswales, which infiltrate the runoff through the use of primarily native plants and grasses. The bridge grades required the use of stepped weirs within the bioretention areas, allowing the stormwater to gradually infiltrate as it steps down the slope to the street level.

This project required great coordination and cooperation between adjacent landowners, stakeholders, the design and construction team and multiple public agencies: Nashville Metro Water Services; Metropolitan Transit Authority; Metro Parks and Recreation; Metro Arts Commission; and the lead agency, Metro Public Works, to accomplish this $19 million project (including right of way acquisition) on time and in budget.

A parapet wall represents columns from adjacent civic institutions, atop which is a required 8-ft. safety fence to protect pedestrians and joggers on the overpass over the CSX railroad line. The fence is designed with stainless steel mesh panels with applied public art. A rain garden strip of Juncus effuses (soft rushes) and planetrees separate the sidewalk from the bike lane.

This is Deaderick Street in downtown Nashville looking southwest uphill to Legislative Plaza and the War Memorial Building, built in 1925 to honor soldiers who died in World War I.

Curb cuts allow water to enter and exit the bioretention planters. Plant materials shown are plane tree, Juncus, dwarf inkberry, and Gray's sedge.

The "Most Complete Street" concept employed on the 28th/31st connector, using complete street, green street and public art strategies, provided innovations that transform a relatively small connector street into a model for the region promising a large impact on the local community and environment.

Project Team
Client/Owner
Metro Nashville Public Works
Project Manager – John Gregor
Design Team
Landscape Architects: Hawkins Partners, Inc.
Civil Engineers
???(R)???AE? Gresham Smith & Partners
???(R)???AE? CDMSmith
General Contractor
Bell Associates
Public Art
David Dahlquist, RDG Dahlquist Art Studio
(Bus Stop/Bridge Applied Elements)
Kevin Berry, South Mountain Studios (Bus Stop)
Product/Manufacturer Information
Custom Fence/Screen – Bellex, Inc.
Integral Color Concrete Pavement – Grace Construction Products Liquid Pigment
Solar Marker Lighting – LightMark S2X, SolarPath Sun Solutions | United Light Group