Advocacy

Please call the capitol message line at 1-800-372-7181 and ask your legislators to support Kentucky's Complete Streets bill, SB 133. It will soon be heard in front of the Senate Transportation Committee. Finally, go fill out this survey so you can communicate with the other supporters. 

Bicycling for Louisville's members and advocates have persuaded the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to enhance Grinstead Drive's proposed road diet with the inclusion of bike lanes and other features.

KYTC's plan is aimed at making this hilly, twisting, tree-lined section of roadway safer between Bardstown Road and Lexington Road.

A road diet reduces 4 car traffic lanes to three, often includes bike lanes, and improves safety by moving traffic at the speed of the most prudent driver:

this is the plan for Grinstead between Hilliard and Glenmary

Thanks to all Bicycing for Louisville members who braved the rain last night and made the public hearing into a tidal wave of support! Yay Road Diets!

A few of the supporters for the Brownsboro Road Diet mug for the camera. Photo courtesy Kirk Kandle / Pedalaround.

Update²: the public comment period has now ended. -Dave Morse

Update: the public comment period has been extended by a few weeks. We're not sure until when. -Dave Morse

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is asking the public to comment on a plan to change Grinstead Drive from Bardstown Road to Cherokee Parkway (next to Cherokee Golf Course) to reduce the lanes from two lanes each way to one lane each way, adding a turning lane and parking for cars.

KYTC proposed a road diet that did NOT include bikeways, so we are asking you to send an email by October 27 making sure they know they need to INCLUDE a safe provision for people on bikes. Share your thoughts on the plan; you MUST contact Jason Richardson at KYTC by email, phone or letter by October 27th.

Jason Richardson
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
8310 Westport Road
Louisville, KY 40242
jasonR.richardson@ky.gov
(502) 210-5400

Thanks go out to Tom Armstrong  and John Mahorney for letting us in on their commuting secrets. Maybe now is the time to try a different approach to your daily commute!

(Via CART - see full article with pictures here)

Construction has begun on a sidewalk linking people and businesses in the Clifton and Clifton Heights neighborhoods. Space for the sidewalk was created by narrowing Brownsboro Road from 4 travel lanes to 3 - a 'road diet'. This is a key technique for creating walkable and bikeable neighborhoods, and we hope that as soon as this project is seen as a success, we can start to look at road diets elsewhere too.

The Ohio River Bridges project will have a number of impacts to bicycling in the region.  Today is the last day to give feedback and affect the plan.

Last I checked, the Clark Memorial Bridge will lose its last stoplight between southbound I-65, becoming essentially an expressway exit bridge. Still likely to remain the best link to New Albany, the bridge will become even faster and more dangerous to bicyclists. This will happen under both "2003 Selected Alternative with tolls", and "2011 Modified Alternative with tolls". [unconfirmed]

Update, 5-4: Second meeting planned for Monday May 16th, 7-8:30pm, Urban Design Studio, 507 South Third Street. Also, you can view Justin's notes from the first meeting.

What about building one of these connecting UofL to the medical center?

Writes Justin Mog:

UofL is working with Bike Louisville and area neighborhood groups to create an on-street bike facility northbound from Cardinal Blvd providing safe, (s)low-traffic connectivity with our Health Sciences Center downtown. We think this is an ideal test-case for Louisville's first dedicated Bike Boulevard with limited, local-access-only auto traffic. Come share your ideas about how this could work!

When: Thursday, April 21, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Where: Central Park Info Center

Update: This campaign has succeeded. AASHTO has dropped their request to weaken bicycling and walking standards for the time being. Thanks to all those who wrote in!