When you need to be Big City hip, and it is not your money.

B.S. Bike Lanes.

This is 31st Avenue North in Nashville. After almost a year of work resurfacing and expanding at a cost probably in the millions (I looked for the final price tag but could not find it, only the plans) to add a bike lane, it has been fully open for about two and a half months.

It made alleged sense to have a bike lane so close to Vanderbilt University, West End and most of all, Centennial Park which 31st Av borders on the west. We are talking thousands of students and tourists hitting the area using bikes or electric scooters, so they needed a safe way to traipse in the area. Right?

But what is wrong with this picture?

If your answer is “Where are the bicycles?” you are correct.

Before anybody starts screaming about a single picture not being representative of the actual truth, allow me to say I drive that street several times a day and this is a very representative image of the average cyclist traffic for that street. Summer has come and is almost gone and the “expected” and promised flow of low impact two-wheeled transportation has not happened and probably will not happen now that cold weather is coming. Maybe in the weekend when I am not at work? But still, it is a fraud upon the people of Nashville. On a good day I might see one cyclist huffing and puffing up and down the street, but most days I see none no matter the hour.

About the only thing I will congratulate the designers and builders for are the pedestrian crossings with the flashing signs. The undulating road makes for tough spotting of people crossing the streets and I appreciate the visual warning, so I don’t run over them. That some still have issues pressing the frigging button before crossing because they have their noses stuck to the smartphones is another subject.

This is a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money just to cater to a minority of spandex-clad idiots who make a lot of noise but contribute zilch to the NDOT coffers.