This is how we do it: Louisville’s transportation solution

By Brian Tucker | Published: September 15, 2011

The recent closure of the Sherman Minton bridge has produced no shortage of ideas on how to fix the debacle.

Is this what you want?

Unfortunately for Louisville’s citizens, the questions on how to fix said debacle are being directed to the business community from Greater Louisville Inc. – the Louisville Chamber of Commerce via Facebook. That method excludes average people from the debate and encourages bad ideas.

We have a lot of talent around here. What we do not have are traffic engineers who focus on moving people instead of vehicles.

Today’s revelation that GLI is asking businesses for feedback on the Sherman Minton situation only confirms my long-held belief that GLI and its minions in Louisville make Mayberry look like think-tanks.

“Possibility City,” located on the banks of the mighty Ohio River, cannot move it’s people or it’s goods across it’s own river.

It is only a matter of minutes before we are once again in Jay Leno territory, being satirized nationwide as a city that is too stupid to find a way to cross a body of water.

It is not as though the river has only recently appeared. Early settlers found ways to make do that were perfectly acceptable.

But soon, business and political organizations would take the reigns away from people and start making the decisions themselves. That is where we are now, thanks to those hacks in charge of the miserably stupid Ohio River Bridges Project.

Of course, actually listening to the people who live in Louisville would disrupt the entire decision-making process that has been cast in stone here for 100 years – a process that keeps good ideas out of the equation and keeps Louisville in the “sleepy river town” category.

So, after having read and listened to the “man on the street,” here are a few ideas that will most likely be ignored by the powers that be.

Because this is how we do it.

  1. Dismiss and divest of all power every single person sitting on the Bridges Authority board.
  2. Throw away all the studies, drawings, and opinions of those on the board, take them to Standiford Field,  tell them “thanks, nice try” and kiss them goodbye.
  3. Repair the Sherman Minton bridge assuming it can be repaired.
  4. Get started on building an East End bridge tomorrow.
  5. Make plans for a southwest Louisville bridge the day after tomorrow.
  6. What is old is new again: Make use of the K&I railroad bridge by allowing bus traffic and by giving mass transit vehicles the right-of-way.
  7. Encourage bus ridership by jacking up parking rates at meters and garages downtown, by lowering bus fares and by compelling local businesses to help subsidize expanded bus service.
  8. Get the mayor to make Bus Rapid Transit a priority. He brought it up during the campaign and has been running away from it ever since.
  9. Establish a commission comprised of both citizens and business owners to discuss transportation infrastructure in Louisville. Force the commission to have legal, open meetings and put the resulting ideas on the ballot.

To be living in a city on a river is a nice thing as long as people can cross the damn thing.

When we solve this, we win.

Lets get with it.

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About the author

Brian Tucker
Brian Tucker is a lifelong Louisvillian. He is the founder of The Valley Report, and has been writing on Southwest Louisville's political environment for several years. Click here to read other articles by Brian Tucker.
  • http://twitter.com/New2Lou Stacey Servo

    Good points, but I disagree with #7 –  jacking up parking rates at meters and garages downtown to encourage public transportation.  Don’t get me wrong, I am all for public transportation, but as a downtown resident and proponent of continued downtown redevelopment, this would hurt efforts to further develop downtown retail and housing. Maybe we can increase  monthly rates, but need to provide discounts for downtown residents and provide free or validated short-term parking for retail customers. Also figure out a way to discourage surface level parking so that developers are encouraged to fill in these dead spaces around the city.

  • http://twitter.com/ValleyReport Brian Tucker

    Clarification: When I talk about jacking up parking rates, I mean the rates “outsiders” pay to park their vehicle downtown. Not residents. But this has to coincide with a massive education campaign and expanded TARC service.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U5ENLBOWKNYZTC43F626EJ3THM Stuart

    1 to 2 Local access bridges (most likely with a small toll) is a good idea.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U5ENLBOWKNYZTC43F626EJ3THM Stuart

    We cannot allow the full ORBP to be built as planned. Riverfields receives a $795 million 3 mile, 4 lane luxury highway with a $261 million tunnel and a 4 story cut in the hillside that connects to a 4 lane bridge. the Downtown interchange, where 3 interstates converge, is budgeted at $724 million with $0 for aesthetic improvements. The fact that this project locks our city’s image defining gateway into a 1950s style elevated waterfront expressway is in stark contrast to the extravagant treatment of Prospect. To pay for this boondoggle they will be tolling our citizens in the least effective manner possible, that will defeat the entire purpose of the east end bridge. The eastern bypass will not serve it’s intended purpose due to the tolls and the inability to require non-local tractor-trailer traffic, including haz-mat, to bypass the city. The already taxed Sherman Minton will absorb the vast majority of bypass traffic when it is the only free interstate option. In addition to the non frequent toll rate of $2-3 all Picture Capture Tolling requires a 1-time administrative fee to cover setting up your account and collection problems. We are looking at a $7-12 administrative fee. The 2010 Wilbur-Smith tolling model illustrates the frequency of diversions to the free Sherman-Minton bridge. To make the numbers work in their statistical regression model they have to plug in a Value of Time assumption that is 66% higher ($21/hour) than the high-end estimate for the D.C. metro area in 2009 (Wilbur-Smith Dulles tolling study). As if that wasn’t bad enough their model fails to account for the administrative fee ‘s role in route selection. This model actually predicts the same amount of crossings in a toll-free 5 bridge scenario as in a 5 bridge $3 toll scenario. That fails the common sense test. If they were using realistic assumptions in their model the vast majority of traffic would select the free (and stressed) Sherman Minton bridge and continue to drive through the denser parts of our city. The artificially combined east end and downtown bridges project is built on a financial house of cards and would not allow for competition from local Access bridges in our lifetimes. Kentucky and Indiana have $2 billion allotted for this project, that is enough for a toll-free east end bridge, spaghetti Junction improvements, and possibly Sherman-Minton repairs. Prevent the biggest urban planning mistake of the 21st century. Divide the project, not the community. Save Louisville.

  • Anonymous

    This story mentions something that I think a very important in the long run for Louisville but most people have not even begin discussing it. That is the southwest bridge!  It and the east end bridge should become the cornerstones of transportation improvements for Louisville. Just creating more clutter and traffic downtown makes a absolutely no sense.

    It’s obvious that Stuart It’s obviously a 8664 advocate from his discussion. I don’t understand where he comes up with calling the east end connection a luxury highway. The only point that is probably extravagant is the tunnel and if you look at the true cost of it is only about $50,000,000 more than a cut through the area would be.  Tolls definitely are not a desirable thing in Louisville or anyplace else for that matter. It’s just the east and bridge was built at the present time and then traffic flow reevaluated the need for an additional downtown bridge may be avoided. This would be especially true if the southwest bridge was built.

    No matter what it’s time we need to start now instead of spending more time watching the prices increase and traffic become worse.

  • Pingback: A Place That’s Full of Ideas, Including a $10 Million One | LouisvilleKY

  • Theresa Popp

    Great article Brian,  Another possibility is to get the commuter train active again.  The tracks are already there and I loved riding the train to Chicago when it was going a few years ago as Amtrak.   There is plenty of parking in Clarksville at the train depot which could stop in Jeff, the train station in Louisville, and on to Papa Johns stadium.  This could be done with very little disturbance to areas of town.  You could take your bike with you on the train and ride the additional route to work or transfer to a Tarc bus.  This would get people started in hopes of a lite rail finally being built in Louisville.  Unfortunately as long as old money is ruling Louisville, lite rail and an east end bridge will never happen.
    Teri

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