Nashville’s downtown is built on a low ridge above a bend in the Cumberland, which means almost every walk involves a climb. In summer, with the heat-index in the triple digits and the asphalt holding the night’s warmth, the climb on Broadway or Lower Broad is more than most office workers want to do at lunch. The greenway, which runs along the river’s west bank from the Bicentennial Mall down past the Riverfront, is the only flat shaded route in the core. It is also under-used, which is part of its appeal.
The cover comes from a continuous planted row of sycamores and willow oaks on the inland side of the path, plus the bluff’s own shadow in the late afternoon. The picks below treat the greenway as the spine and use the cross-bridges (Pedestrian Bridge, Korean Veterans) to stitch in the east-side approaches from Nissan Stadium and the East Bank. The greenway itself is at its coolest before 10 and after 4; midday it loses about 15% of its shade to the high sun angle, but it’s still ten degrees under the streets above.