This weekend’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix is revving up. The inaugural festival is expected to attract upwards of 140,000 attendees to downtown Nashville, and organizers says it’s the first professional IndyCar race to cross a body of water.

But the event is also causing traffic disruptions, and not just for automobiles.

The Grand Prix has closed the pedestrian bridge to non-ticketed attendees, causing frustration among walking and cycling advocates. The organization Walk Bike Nashville wrote a letter in opposition, and it says it considered calling off an event it had partnered on with the festival.

A spokesperson for Nashville’s transportation department says early discussions with the race organizers had explored keeping the Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge open to the public. But eventually, staffing and safety concerns made that option “unfeasible.”

‘No Other Safe Alternative’

Katherine McDonell says she bikes to her job at Vanderbilt from East Nashville using the pedestrian bridge. She’s also seven months pregnant, and says safety is a major concern.

“When you close the only safe way for people on bikes to get across the river — pedestrians as well — we have to take a more dangerous route,” McDonell says. “There’s really no other safe alternative. So you’re directly putting people in danger when you close the pedestrian bridge.”

Since Thursday, the city’s department of transportation has provided a detour route across the river on Woodland Street. A spokesperson says it was designed with safety as a priority, with traffic cones and about a dozen water barricades. But it comes with higher volume and speeds, and less protection than a car-free bridge.

Looking Ahead

McDonell says going forward, she thinks closing the pedestrian bridge should be a last resort. And she says she thinks the process should be more clearly communicated with members of the community who rely on that infrastructure. Walk Bike Nashville has also started a petition calling for the city to require safe bike and pedestrian alternate routes for private events in the future. The organization says it will not be partnering with the Grand Prix in 2022.

The event comes as the city is experiencing a surge in the number of coronavirus cases. A spokesperson for the local health department says the city is not as concerned about viral spread at the Grand Prix as it would be for an indoor event. Still the health department encourages guests to follow CDC guidelines.

WPLN reached out to Big Machine Music City Grand Prix for this story on Friday, and they did not respond by the time of publication.

Traffic Issues Expected At Fairgrounds, Too

The traffic woes won’t just be centered around downtown this weekend. (A full map of BMMCGP road closures can be found here.)

South of downtown, the Nashville Fairgrounds will also be hosting a race and other events Saturday. A release alerts drivers to expect congestion, especially between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Construction on new roadways and the MLS stadium has caused new access routes and work zones, so the Fairgrounds is urging motorists to be cautious.