Dickson City Council Considers Restricting Traffic Around Luther Lake to Improve Pedestrian Safety

To improve safety for pedestrians at Luther Lake, the Dickson City Council is considering a proposal that would prohibit vehicle traffic in the area of the dam at the north end.

During the council’s Finance and Management Committee meeting Monday, Sept. 16, Councilperson Brett Reynolds (1st Ward) presented a study requested by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board that includes traffic counts at various points around the north end of the lake.

“We call Luther Lake a park, which I like the fact that we have a park,” Reynolds said. “No other place (that) we have a park we encourage motor traffic along with pedestrian traffic. And it’s either a neighborhood city street or it’s a park and to play the balance between both can be precarious.”

The manmade 13.5-acre lake was built in 1950 in the development of the East Hills subdivision and was donated to the City of Dickson by W.E. Luther’s heirs in 1972. It became part of the City of Dickson’s parks system and has become a popular location for walkers, joggers, bicyclists and others to take advantage of its approximately one-mile circuit that includes a path and bridge built by the city at the south end to divert pedestrian traffic from Highway 70. It has long been a haven for ducks, geese and turtles, even more so after the lake was drained and an island constructed in 1984 for the purpose of relieving pressure on the dam that was deemed to be in danger of failing at that time.

“The usage of the park, as we call it, has grown quite a bit; and as the usage has grown, so has the traffic,” said Reynolds, who lives half a block from the east shore of the lake. “So, we’re basically having more traffic and pedestrian interactions there now, at least in the 10 years that I have lived on the lake.”

A member of the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, Reynolds said the board asked for a traffic study to see “where the greatest impacts would be, if (there’s) a great impact on public safety, an impact on emergency services.”

In discussing the potential actions with area residents, Reynolds said most people brought up the volume of traffic around the lake that is not local to the area.

“Just in conversations and polls, most of the people, if there’s one thing they hate worse than the resident geese, is the amount of non-neighborhood traffic that cuts through,” Reynolds said. “Of course, every neighborhood has that complaint, that’s not a new complaint neighborhoods have.”

But a major difference, according to Reynolds, is that Luther Lake is a destination for residents from all over who park and walk, jog or bicycle around the lake.

“Nobody is parking their car and walking down Dykeman Road. Nobody’s parking their car and walking down West End Avenue. Nobody’s parking their car and walking down, you know, even Murrell,” Reynolds said. “But people do park, and we claim it to be a park, and they walk all through on that lake. And we also invite children to ride their bikes, skateboards, scooters, whatever else, strollers, young people in wheelchairs. … Nowhere else in our city do we encourage pedestrians and motor traffic on the same asphalt.”

Projects Director Christopher Hooper placed the city’s traffic counters at various points around the north end of the lake to determine numbers of vehicles and the direction of travel. City Engineer Bret Stock analyzed the data and, in his report, concludes “it appears that a large volume of traffic utilizes the north end of the lake from Pump Hill Road to Jackson Road as a cut through to get from (Highway) 70 to the Hummingbird Lane area. While this is a viable route to bypass a portion of town, this unwarranted traffic could be seen as a preventable safety concern for pedestrians.”

In addition to the “cut through” traffic, Stock’s report cites a large number of “cruisers, or motorists simply traveling around the lake with no apparent destination.”

The traffic data in the report shows an average daily volume of 416 vehicles across the dam at the north end, 192 westbound and 224 eastbound. An average of 237 vehicles approached the lake on Pump Hill Road and 141 vehicles approached the lake on Jackson Road.

Since the section of West Lake Drive from Pump Hill Road across the dam to Jackson Road has no driveway connections, does not provide access to any other property and does not intersect with any other street in between, the conclusion is all of that traffic is either cutting through or cruising the lake.

Reynolds said he timed the difference in driving Highway 70 to get from one side of the lake to the other instead of cutting through around the lake and found it to be about 30 seconds.

“One day you might be better 30 seconds, one day you might be worse 30 seconds from Hummingbird (Lane) to the red light at Pump Hill (Road) and Henslee (Drive),” Reynolds said. “So, I’m asking, basically, the neighborhood to sacrifice 30 seconds to keep a 6,000-pound car away from a 30-pound child. Not an unreasonable ask for a pretty low significant impact to the budget.”

The report prepared by Stock presents recommendations in three stages:

• “Phase 1 – For Phase 1, COD staff proposes the closing of the lake dam section of West Lake Drive between Pump Hill Road and Jackson Road to vehicle traffic. Additionally, a reduction in the posted speed limit may be considered;
• “Phase 2 – Phase 2 recommendations include the construction of a dedicated pedestrian sidewalk around the perimeter of the lake, new pedestrian lighting to improve nighttime safety, and the addition of cross-walks at high crossing locations;” and
• “Phase 3 – Phase 3 recommendations would expand on the previously mentioned Phase 2 items. For Phase 3, COD staff recommends working out away from the Luther Lake area to the surrounding neighborhoods with new sidewalks. There appears to be a number of citizens within these areas that walk to the lake for recreational activities and exercise, and sidewalks to these areas could be beneficial for increasing safety. This would be a long-term phase with likely multiple sub-phases due to scope and cost.”

Reynolds said the city could install bollards or gates to restrict traffic at the north end, which could be removed if the city decides the project hasn’t proven effective.

“The recommendations (in Phase 1) are: 1. They’re low-impact, low-cost; and, if we stump our toe, it’s like, ‘Eh, this is a bad idea,’ we’ll just pull the bollards up,” Reynolds said. “We’re just controlling the traffic, where we’re no longer inviting non-neighborhood traffic to flow through there.”

As for Phase 2, the report says constructing sidewalks around the perimeter of the lake, having to be five feet wide due to Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, would require approximately three feet of additional subgrade due to the slope from the road to the water’s edge. The study recommends a more in-depth analysis be performed before deciding on Phase 2.

“A more cost-efficient option could be to make West Lake Drive and East Lake Drive one way, which would allow a reduction in the required travel lane and provide a larger section for pedestrians. Residents around the lake would be able to exit the area via side roads that lead to established collector roads and highways in relatively short distances,” the report states.

Additional items that could be considered in Phase 2 include decorative lighting similar to that in the downtown area and a dedicated parking area that could be constructed at the northwestern corner of the lake.

Phase 3 would be a large-scale project done in multiple phases to expand sidewalks into the surrounding neighborhoods with cost and the feasibility of incorporating existing infrastructure such as ditches, culverts and utilities being factors.

The report was presented to the Finance and Management Committee for discussion and a proposal to take any of the actions recommended could come as early as the Oct. 7 City Council meeting.