Nolensville Pike is officially on the operating table. The Tennessee Department of Transportation has signed off on a major step in the long-planned widening of the busy south Nashville corridor, a project that officials say will ease traffic, add sidewalks and bike lanes, and generally modernize a stretch that has struggled to keep up with growth. For drivers, neighbors and business owners along the 4.4-mile route, it also means a long stretch of lane closures, detours and noise.
What the project will do
According to the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the project will reconstruct about 4.4 miles of SR-11 (Nolensville Pike), widening it from two lanes to a five-lane facility between Burkitt Road and SR-254 (Old Hickory Boulevard). TDOT lists a base-year 2023 traffic count of about 20,457 vehicles per day and a design-year 2043 forecast of roughly 35,994 vehicles per day, figures the agency says justify the added capacity.
The planned cross section reads like a complete-streets wish list: two 12-foot travel lanes in each direction, a 12-foot center turn lane, 10-foot paved shoulders that double as bike lanes, and five-foot sidewalks on both sides. Phase I is currently estimated to wrap up in July 2027.
Timeline and funding
As reported by FOX17, TDOT has folded Phase II of the Nolensville project into its updated 10-year plan, which moves the southern section closer to eventual funding consideration. FOX17 notes that Phase II could receive funding beginning in 2027, with design work and land acquisition to follow if the money is approved.
NewsChannel 5 reports that Phase I carries an estimated price tag of about $37.9 million, while Phase II is projected at roughly $33.6 million. Final totals will depend on right-of-way needs and design decisions as the project advances.
Construction so far and neighborhood impact
Per the Tennessee Department of Transportation, current work comes with a familiar menu of headaches: scheduled lane and turn-lane closures, plus a continuous closure of Bradford Hills Drive that runs into April 2026 while crews relocate utilities and handle grading. That has already meant detours, short-term access changes for nearby streets, and slower trips during rush hour.
Local business owners along the corridor report heavier traffic and more delays at peak times, and neighbors have raised concerns about safety and property impacts. Those worries are not just theoretical. WSMV reported that an August 2024 water-main break tied to road-widening activity flooded several homes near the project area.
What comes next for neighbors
Local officials frame the broader effort as a necessary response to continued residential and commercial growth along Nolensville Pike, as well as a bid to reduce crash risk on a corridor that carries tens of thousands of vehicles a day. "This is an important milestone for South Nashville," state Rep. Caleb Hemmer told FOX17.
If funding for Phase II arrives on the schedule TDOT is eyeing, design work and right-of-way acquisition could begin after 2027. Construction on that southern section is not expected until the early 2030s, meaning the corridor will be in some stage of transformation for years.
Why it matters
The widening is part of a larger push that includes technology-driven safety efforts. Metro announced a $10 million SMART grant for Nolensville Pike to expand data and sensor deployment along the corridor, according to Nashville.gov. For now, residents can expect intermittent closures, periodic public meetings and ongoing lane shifts as the two phases move through design, land acquisition and construction.
