Drivers on North Parkway are navigating a brand-new lane configuration this week after the Tennessee Department of Transportation finished resurfacing the stretch between Danny Thomas Boulevard and East Parkway, restriping it to include a parking-protected bike lane. The change rearranges the busy corridor into two traffic lanes, a parking lane, and a bike lane, but not everyone is convinced it is working as intended.
A New Layout Arrives Mid-Week
According to the City of Memphis, TDOT recently wrapped up the resurfacing project and restriped the roadway specifically to add parking-protected bike lanes along that stretch. WREG reported that the bike lane protocols officially took effect Tuesday, describing the new setup as two lanes for traffic, one lane for parking, and a bike lane.
Despite the fresh markings, WREG observed several cars already parked squarely in the designated bike lane rather than the adjacent parking lane, undercutting the protection the redesign is supposed to offer cyclists. A separate account from a local Substack post described the layout in slightly more detail, noting a bike lane and parking lane alongside two lanes of traffic and a left-turn lane, and reported that small signs explaining the changes “for the safety of all users,” complete with diagrams, appeared on sidewalks along eastbound and westbound North Parkway on Wednesday. That same post noted the posted speed limit on North Parkway is 40 mph.
Cyclists Give It Cautious Approval
Not everyone is sour on the change. Ron Garner, a cyclist and pedestrian who spoke with the station's report, said the new setup could make riding a little safer, even as he questioned whether the signage explaining it all is visible enough for drivers to notice. His mixed assessment echoes the broader reaction WREG described, with the lane drawing split opinions from people who use the road.
The station also cited federal data in its coverage, noting that placing bike lanes between parked cars and the curb — the general design concept behind the new North Parkway configuration — can reduce pedestrian and cyclist crashes by 40 to 60%, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. No crash data specific to North Parkway itself has been released to show whether the redesign is delivering on that promise locally.
Part Of A Broader Citywide Pattern
North Parkway's makeover is not an isolated move. Memphis has added bike lanes whenever a road comes up for repaving since a policy adopted in 2010 under then-Mayor A.C. Wharton, according to the Commercial Appeal. The city's bikeway and pedestrian program coordinator told the paper Memphis already has more than 300 miles of bike facilities and has added roughly 21 miles of new ones annually since that policy began.
That expansion has not been uniformly praised. The same report quoted a Memphis cycling advocate who called the bike lane on Appling Road unusually narrow, saying cyclists cannot fit in it even if they try — a reminder that adding a bike lane and building one that actually works for riders are not always the same thing.
Memphis does have a more ambitious model elsewhere in the form of the Hampline, a project documented by Bike/Ped Memphis. That nearly two-mile bicycle and pedestrian corridor connects the Shelby Farms Greenline through Binghampton and Broad Avenue to Overton Park, using raised medians to separate a two-way cycle track from traffic along Tillman Street and Broad Avenue. It also includes the city's first bicycle-specific traffic signals, at Sam Cooper Boulevard and Hale Avenue/Johnson Avenue.
Other repaving-linked bike lane additions have been planned around the city in recent years, including proposals covering Littlemore from Chimney Rock to Rockcreek, Quince north of Messick to Kirby, and Hollywood from Central to Southern, according to Bike/Ped Memphis records. For now, North Parkway riders and drivers alike are still adjusting to the new striping, with some hoping enforcement and awareness catch up before the lane's intended safety benefits are undermined by cars parked where bikes are supposed to go.
