Did you know? Nashville scored a 30 out of 100 on Walk Score’s bikeability meter, deeming it a “somewhat bikeable” city. Our score is determined by four components: bike lanes, hills, destinations and connectivity, and bicycle mode share. Wondering what all that means? Let’s bike it out.
Bike lanes
Walk Score rates this category on the total length of bike paths and lanes. Learn more about bike lanes or plan a bike commute.
Hill score
Hilliness is based on the steepest grade within our area, calculated using the National Elevation Data set from the United States Geological Survey (USGC). Play with the USGS’ interactive map to learn more about nearby topography.
Destinations and connectivity
This uses our city’s Walk Score, which measures whether or not you need a car to run daily errands. Bonus: Next time you travel by bike, look out for these 21 sculptures that double as bike racks?
Bicycle mode share
This category takes into account the social nature of bicycling. There’s safety in numbers. Even if a city doesn’t have tons of infrastructure for cyclists, more cyclists mean more drivers are aware of bicycles — which makes roadways safer.
How can we boost our score?
The top way to increase the bikeability of our city is — you guessed it — by biking more. We can boost our community score by learning more about biking in our city. In the short term, watch for surveys from NDOT and TDOT — like this Dickerson Pike Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Study.
Don’t have a bike yet? Support one of these local bike shops:
- MOAB Bike Shop, 103 S. 11th St.
- Green Fleet Bikes, 934 Jefferson St.
- Ride615 Bicycle Shop, 4511 Charlotte Ave.
