MAYOR DEAN CUTS RIBBON ON NEW DEADERICK STREET
Pedestrian, sustainable amenities create state’s first ‘green street’
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (October 8, 2009) -
Mayor Karl Dean (center) cuts the green ribbon on Deaderick Street alongside (left to right) Jim Snyder with Metro Public Works, Kathleen O'Brien with TPAC, Kim Hawkins with Hawkins Partners, District 6 Councilman Mike Jameson, and TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely.
Metro officials celebrated a newly transformed Deaderick Street today with music and a ceremonial ribbon-cutting event on the west steps of the Metro Courthouse Public Square.
The improved Deaderick Street includes a long list of sustainable features that qualify it as the first green street in Tennessee, and one of the first in the Southeast. New streetscape amenities were made possible after the city’s downtown Petway Transit Mall was relocated off Deaderick to its new home at Music City Central one block away.
At today’s event, Mayor Karl Dean cut a green ribbon to commemorate the completion of the project. The celebration included musical entertainment by Decca Records and SONY/ATV artists One Flew South, featuring Grammy Award-winning composer Marcus Hummon, and Transit, a band formed by Nashville MTA employees.
“Creating an attractive and sustainable street was a key priority with this project. But the vision doesn’t stop there,” Dean said. “We have created a long-term redevelopment plan for Deaderick Street that includes improved building street-fronts and more commercial and retail activity. So while today marks the completion of significant improvements, it also marks a new beginning for Deaderick.”
Construction on the Deaderick streetscape improvement project began in October 2008 with removal of outdated MTA bus shelters and rows of severely distressed and dying trees, which were replaced with a combination of new trees and plantings that are better suited for an urban environment. Other changes include new green spaces and planting beds, and a landscaped median extending the entire length of the corridor. To ensure that the trees and new plantings stay healthy and thrive, project designers included an irrigation system and bioswales, or rain gardens, to capture, filter and infiltrate rainwater.
The project also includes new traffic signals and pedestrian signals, new street lights, new pedestrian lights, additional on-street parking, new solar-powered parking meters, and new paving and striping.
Another streetscape feature are information kiosks describing each of the sustainable aspects of the project, as well as the history and evolution of Deaderick Street since its early days as an alley that connected present-day Third and Fifth avenues.
Celebrating Deaderick Street Video
For media inquiries contact:
Janel Lacy
(615) 862-6020
janel.lacy@nashville.gov