I found this information at walkbikenashville.org, a non profit group here in Nashville that is trying to change the current cycling/walking climate here.
- 10% of Nashville households do not own a car
- Nashvillians drive an average of 38 miles of day, one of the highest in the US
- The Surface Transportation Policy Project ranked Nashville as the 10th worst pedestrian city
- 81% of Nashvillians favor more sidewalks and bikeways
- Tennessee spends 0.7% of its federal transportation funds on pedestrian/bicycle facilities
- Pedestrians and bicyclists account for 7% of all traffic deaths in Tennessee
- The obesity rate in Tennessee is 22.7% which is one of the highest in the country
- Nashville has almost twice the road miles as Minneapolis, but half the sidewalks
- Of 338 miles of roadways surveyed in Nashville, 75% were identified as unsuitable for bicycling
And this is also an interesting tid bit:
In the 1960’s, nearly 70% of children walked or bicycled to school. Today, less than 10% go to school under their own power.
It's sad really, I live just two miles from the downtown but I rarely see other people cycling or walking to work, or around my urban neighborhood. But happily, Walk Bike Nashville is working to change all of this.