From an 8664.org press release:
Louisville, KY – Today the founders of 8664 released a 90 second video rendering of Waterfront Parkway. The video was developed as a result of the recently released traffic study by the Kentucky transportation cabinet (“KYTC”), which confirmed that a one-bridge solution (East End Bridge only) will provide 99% of the “system-wide performance” compared to the proposed $4.1 billion Ohio River Bridges Project.
“The State’s traffic study reaffirms that the East End Bridge, not a Downtown Bridge or expanded Spaghetti Junction, will have the greatest positive effect on regional traffic flow. So we developed this video to help citizens visualize a one-bridge solution. Louisville’s future should be determined by the people who live here, not transportation engineers,” said Tyler Allen, co-founder of 8664.
KYTC’s single-bridge alternative traffic study was released in December. The study compares the current two-bridge project with an alternative that includes only the East End Bridge and a simplified Spaghetti Junction. Like 8664, the studied alternative replaced the elevated I-64 on Louisville’s waterfront with a four-lane parkway. The study measured the region’s system-wide performance in terms of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) and Vehicle Hours Traveled (VHT) and found that the alternative performed virtually identically to the Bridges Project.
“This traffic study indicates that we don’t need tolls or a 23 lane wide Spaghetti Junction. What we need is for people to visualize what Louisville can be if we embrace a better, less expensive alternative to the Bridges Project,” Stites said.
The 90-second animation begins above a simplified Spaghetti Junction and travels west along Louisville’s waterfront. It pauses at three specific points to reveal detailed renderings of Waterfront Park’s Great Lawn without I-64, the intersection of Waterfront Parkway and 9th Street and the western portion of Waterfront Park from 16th Street.
Allen added, “Our hope is that when citizens see this they will realize that what is good for our waterfront is good for the entire region. Building the East End Bridge can benefit the East End and New Albany, as much as the West End, Jeffersonville and Old Louisville.”
Additional information is available at www.8664.org. Co-founders, Tyler Allen and JC Stites are available for comment upon request.
