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By David Walsh

By LANDON WOODROOF

It was the number-one topic of concern submitted by the public to the city’s Bike and Pedestrian Ad Hoc Committee.

City Commissioner Betsy Crossley said it is one of the top five questions she has been asked about the most during her time in office.

Residents want to know what can be done to improve connectivity between the east and west sides of the city, bisected by I-65.

At Monday night’s City Commission meeting, commissioners voted to approve a contract that could help provide solutions. Kimley-Horn will be paid $64,000 to conduct a study looking at ways the city can connect its east and west sides.

The City of Brentwood’s Trail System Map shows a bike and pedestrian infrastructure that has grown significantly more robust in recent years. Noticeably, however, all of the trails on it are located east of I-65. As a result, people living west of the Interstate have little choice but to drive if they want to visit places like the Brentwood Library, and people living east of the Interstate can only drive if they want to visit the Town Center.

At an informational session last week, City Manager Kirk Bednar said the city had always thought that the Turner Farm property would be key to greater east/west connectivity. With development of that area uncertain, though, the Bike and Pedestrian Committee urged more immediate action.

“What the bike committee said is that that may or may never happen so what are our other alternatives?” Bednar said. “Which none of them are great to be quite honest with you, none of them are cheap.”

Kimley-Horn will study the area closely to try to come up with solutions for the connectivity problem. It will come up with list of “connectivity alternatives,” and hold a public meeting to gather input on the ideas. Finally, the consulting firm will identify a best possible solution and present it in a final report.

“Eventually at the end of the thing there will be a request for us to officially endorse our preferred alternative,” Bednar said.

Bednar was careful to delineate the scope of this study.

“This is just a planning-level study,” he said. “It’s not design. It won’t automatically lead to funding for a design, but it will give us something to go on in terms of future planning, where we want to go and how we might fund it.”