Nashville Breaks Ground on First Choose How You Move Complete Street

Nashville today broke ground on its first Choose How You Move Complete Street. The Chestnut Street corridor will improve safety and connectivity for people traveling between Midtown, Edgehill, Chestnut Hill, Wedgewood Houston, and downtown. The ceremonial groundbreaking, held at Dicey's Tavern, included remarks from Choose How You Move Chief Program Officer Sabrina Sussman, Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT) Deputy Director Derek Hagerty, Advisory Committee on Transportation member Ashley Northington, and South Nashville Action People (SNAP) neighborhood president Caroleen Wilkes.

The Chestnut Complete Street project will feature safer crossings from 8th Avenue South to Lafayette Street, improved sidewalks and bus stops, and protected bike lanes. Construction will be phased and is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2026.

"When Nashvillians came together to vote for Choose How You Move, they were asking us to make it easier and safer to get around this city, no matter how you're moving," said Mayor Freddie O'Connell. "Chestnut Street is an example of how we deliver on that promise-with real improvements for people walking, rolling, biking, riding transit, and driving through these neighborhoods. We said we'd move from planning to doing, and that's exactly what we're doing here."

"The Chestnut Street project is about more than infrastructure improvements. It's about transforming a key corridor to ensure that more Nashvillians move safely and easily through this city," said Sabrina Sussman, Choose How You Move Chief Program Officer. "This project connects neighborhoods, improves conditions for people walking, biking, driving, and riding transit, and shows what Choose How You Move can deliver for Davidson County. Today is a milestone, and there's much more to come."

"We're thrilled to be breaking ground on a transformational project like the Chestnut Complete Street project," said NDOT Deputy Director Derek Hagerty. "Choose How You Move funding has enabled us to speed up delivery of essential transportation projects across the county, and we're dedicated to making good on our promise of safer streets and more efficient, reliable commutes. This project provides essential multimodal connections across multiple Nashville neighborhoods, and this is the first of many we plan to deliver as quickly as possible."

Complete Streets are designed to serve people of all ages and abilities and reflect the priorities Nashville voters set when they approved Choose How You Move: sidewalks, signals, service, and safety. Detours and lane closures will be in place throughout each phase of construction. For real-time information on road closures, please visit nashville.gov/transportation/road-closures.

To report a non-emergency issue affecting a Metro Nashville street, visit hub.nashville.gov.

About Choose How You Move

Choose How You Move is Nashville's voter-approved transportation improvement program, supported by 66% of voters in 2024 and funded by a dedicated half-cent sales surcharge. As the largest capital program in Nashville's history, the $3.1 billion initiative delivers critical upgrades across all of Davidson County: smart signals at nearly 600 intersections, 54 miles of high-capacity transit with 24/7 service, 86 miles of new sidewalks, and safety improvements across 78 miles of the Vision Zero High-Injury Network. Whether you walk, roll, ride, bike, or drive, Choose How You Move is building a Nashville that's safer and easier to get around.

About Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure

The Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT) builds and manages a safe, reliable public network which elevates the quality of life and prosperity in Davidson County.