May 2010 Archives

Thanks to WFPL's Gabe Bullard for bring the Infrastructurist post "What does "Livability" mean to the US Government?" to Louisville's blogsphere. Incredibly, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood thinks Livability has something to do with using your feet.

"So in 2001, Missouri and Illinois went back to the drawing board. Both states agreed the project was too big and too costly. With money lacking, the solution was to downsize and build the bridge in phases. Ironically, the phase idea was borrowed from the Ohio River Bridges Project."

Watch Part I and Part II of the TV coverage.

Waterfront Park's "Great" Lawn                     (ROLLOVER PHOTO)

ORBP's plan would make I-64 50% wider than it is today - that's 75 feet wider. Also notice that the rendering doesn't include a shadow, but if constructed -- planned  to be 10 feet higher than its current height -- the shadow from I-64 will cover the majority of what we now call our Great Lawn.

Slugger Field

The new Spaghetti Junction ramps will be at least 35 feet above the ground and plow right through Slugger Fields parking lot. The ORBP's current rendering of the above ramps show them avoiding the Slugger Field's parking lot, so we've requested accurate renderings.  

Click the link below to see what happens to the Xtreme Park and more.

On April 19th, we emailed a Transportation Questionnaire to all the Mayoral Candidates. Last weekend we received the final responses, so we've compiled the results. We'd like to thank the candidates and their campaigns for taking the time and responding to our questions about Louisville's transportation future.

Here's today's Press Release which began...

Mayoral candidates oppose the ORBP by a 2-to-1 margin

Strong agreement on the East End Bridge, opposition to tolls on existing bridges and reversible lanes on the 2^nd Street Bridge.

Here's a link directly to the results in table form.

And here are the unedited individual questionnaire responses:
Tyler Allen (D)
Greg Fischer (D)
Jackie Green (I)
Hal Heiner (R) - refused
Jim King (D)
Lisa Moxley (D)
Jonathon Robertson (R)
David Tandy (D)
Chris Thieneman (R)
Shannon White (D)

Check them out. Thanks to HillbillyReport.org for covering the meeting.

In Sunday's editorial they said this:

"Moreover, after some initial confusion about his position, Mr. Fischer has unequivocally endorsed the record of decision on the Ohio River Bridges Project, which calls for simultaneously proceeding on construction of two bridges -- one in the eastern part of the county, one downtown -- and on a reconfiguration of Spaghetti Junction."

They continue to make this claim, but it is NOT TRUE. The ROD doesn't specify the order of construction and in fact the current ORBP schedule has the East End Bridge completed one year before construction on the downtown bridge begins. 

Additionally, every editorial that mentions the bridges should come with the following disclaimer:

"Opinion Editor Keith Runyon lives near the path of the East End Bridge and is married to the Director of River Fields, the organization responsible for delaying the bridge for the last three decades."

Lastly, C-J, try to spell the name of our city correctly. It's not "Louisvillle". 

Yesterday the Bridges Authority emailed me to let me know their new website is up. You can check it out at www.bridgesauthority.com.

When I perused the image gallery, the rendering below caught my eye because it's different from other renderings and the Google Map overlay on their website.

For starters, notice how the interstate ramp closest to Slugger Field goes behind the existing billboard at the far side of parking lot. But when you look at the Google overlay from ORBP website, you see it clearly goes right through the middle of the parking lot. See below:

Another "issue" I noticed is that originally there were two streets that connected Butchertown to the waterfront, but now there's only one. Hmmm.

Exploring further, the Third Street ramp that was moved east, dumping traffic onto River Road at Waterfront Park (see below) is missing from the image on the Authority's website. Maybe they are using old rendering for some reason.

From today's USA Today article:

"The resurgence of downtowns has turned available pieces of land into hot commodities. At the same time, the drumbeat for more parks in smog-choked cities is getting louder.

"It's essentially like creating oceanfront property," says Linda Owen, president of the Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation in Dallas. "It's an economic engine."

(C) Gannett Co. Inc., owner of the Courier-Journal