Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick joined Thursday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss the latest work he’s done and plans to do since being elected to the Metro Nashville Council in September 2023.
Portions of bike lane delineators, described by the councilman as the “white poles on the side of the road that keep the bike lane separated from the regular road,” have been reported by some of Eslick’s constituents as obstructive, especially when it comes to those driving buses and larger, taller vehicles.
“I’ve had some people email me that the buses can’t get to the bus,” Eslick explained. “I’m not against them, I’m not for them, but I think the one thing that I’m going to look at and see if I can’t work with NDOT on is maybe to be a little less aggressive around entrances and ingresses and egresses. It seems at points it’s difficult for people to see them if you’re in a big truck, a taller vehicle.”
Eslick continued by saying the placement of some delineators makes certain exits and entrances of areas “very tight” for vehicles to maneuver around.
“So the best example of where I can say that I think we need a little relief is if you’re turning right out of a Walmart or some type of business and [the delineators] begin right there,” Eslick said. “They’re very tight on the exit. Like, if you’re turning right and in a bigger vehicle, you can’t see the top of it so then you may turn too strongly and then run over it and it almost makes you make a harder right turn. And a lot of times, I know myself when I’m turning out of places and there’s another lane and there are cars passing by, I’d like to be a little safer and try to, you know, at least turn a little tighter so I know the front of my vehicle is not going to go over to the other lane. And these delineators make it a little harder for you to do that.”
“So I’m not against them. I’m not trying to dog out any other plans or anything. But, I do feel like we could remove one or two on the front and the back of the ingress egress areas and make people a little more comfortable,” Eslick added.
While Eslick noted that there is not much data on accidents caused by bike lane delineators, he added, “I feel like we’re going to have to get used to [the delineators], but there’s some unhappiness right now.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Jeff Eslick” by Jeff Eslick.
