Nashville, TN - Not Bike/Pedestrian Friendly
 

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.

Great info. =)

I love biking in Nashville. It's a cool city. You can take West End and bike all the way out to Bell Meade.

I really wish you luck in getting Nashville more bike/walk friendly but if you don’t mind I would like to vent a bit with similar stats for the Baltimore:

• ~30% of Baltimore households do not own a car
• ~62% Baltimore Metro Area residents favor more sidewalks and bikeways
• Maryland spends ~0.6% of its federal transportation funds on pedestrian/bicycle facilities
• Pedestrians and bicyclists account for 17% of all traffic deaths in Maryland
• Pedestrians and bicyclists account for 32% of all traffic deaths in Baltimore
• The obesity rate in Maryland is 23.4% which is 24 heaviest in the nation

I looked to see if I could find a ranking for Baltimore by the Surface Transportation Policy Project but I really could not find anything. What I did find is that STPP lumped us with the DC area and it seems they reported the better half of this combination. :(

I’m baffled in that it seems our numbers are worse then yours yet Baltimore as far I as know is not mentioned as being worse. Additionally we have one of the worst Mass Transit systems of any major US city and all this together does not lend itself to a good transportation policy.

Anyway at least you get an idea why I am a bike advocate here.