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Dear District 8,
Many of you have reached out to share your thoughts about the Bardstown Road redesign. I’m so grateful to everyone for weighing in. This project is a joint effort between city government, state government, and other community partners to make Bardstown Road safer for pedestrians and drivers.
Now that construction has been going on for a few months, I wanted to provide you all with an update on where the project stands. Because of weather-related delays and materials shortages, some of the remaining work will be completed this spring. That’s because contractors cannot do these types of projects once the weather consistently drops below 50 degrees. We have been notified that all work should be completed by April 2023.
What work is left to do? A lot of exciting things! Existing crosswalks will be restriped and have push-activated lights to help pedestrians get across Bardstown Road. A new crosswalk will be added at Bardstown and Morton. Trees will go in the new tree wells, and landscaping will go into the curb extensions. It will significantly green and beautify our public space.
Speaking of curb extensions, a few of you have asked for more information to understand the purpose of these improvements. The curb extensions you see being constructed serve two purposes. First, they stop vehicles from parking where they are already prohibited from parking by law—within 30 feet of an intersection. When people park close to intersections, it blocks visibility, and is responsible for many pedestrian and vehicle incidents. The curb extensions you see near intersections are designed to keep these sightlines clear, while also adding some green space and permeable surface.
The mid-block curb extensions serve a slightly different purpose. One of the most frequent ways people walking get injured is when they step into a crosswalk and they cannot see drivers and/or drivers cannot see them. The mid-block curb extensions address this issue by moving pedestrians out even with the line of parked cars so that, when they are waiting to cross the street, they can see cars better, and cars can see them better.
That brings me to one of the most common questions I get asked: can we paint the curb extensions yellow to make them more visible? I’ve spoken to the engineers about this option, and they agree that it is possible. Right now, the striping on the road isn’t complete, and they believe that the curb extensions will be more visible once the final reflective road paint goes down in early 2023. If that doesn’t solve the problem, and folks are still having trouble seeing the curb extensions, we can add yellow paint to the problem areas. Please keep sending your thoughts and feedback!
A couple of other answers to frequently asked questions: Yes, the MSD cover at the intersection of Bardstown and Eastern Parkway will be raised to be even with the pavement. No, the places where you see two lines between the parking spaces and the road isn’t a narrow bikelane—it’s a buffer area to delineate between where cars are parked and the road way. Yes, we will be planting native trees in the tree wells where possible, and Trees Louisville (our partner on the tree planting piece) has selected species that are appropriate to grow under the powerlines.
If you have any other questions, please be in touch! Thank you for your patience as the construction continues, and for the kindnesses that you’ve shown the folks out there doing the work to make our community safer.
Cassie
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