Public works looking to renovate Eastern Parkway, return to Olmsted's 'original intent'
Currently, engineering firm Gresham Smith is looking at a 3.85-mile stretch of Eastern Parkway, running from Cherokee Park to Hahn Street.
Public works looking to renovate Eastern Parkway, return to Olmsted's 'original intent' Currently, engineering firm Gresham Smith is looking at a 3.85-mile stretch of Eastern Parkway, running from Cherokee Park to Hahn Street. Check out this story on courier-journal.com: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2019/07/12/potential-eastern-parkway-renovation-s-currently-being-studied/1707728001/
Benjamin Tobin, Louisville Courier Journal Published 11:44 a.m. ET July 12, 2019 | Updated 12:18 p.m. ET Sept. 17, 2019
A map of the section of Eastern Parkway under consideration. (Photo: Louisville's Parkways)
More than a century after its original construction, Eastern Parkway may get a face-lift.
Louisville Metro Public Works is teaming up with engineering and design firm Gresham Smith to conduct a study to explore how to improve motorist, pedestrian and bicyclist use of Eastern Parkway. They're looking into the renovation of a 3.85-mile stretch of Eastern Parkway, running from Cherokee Park to Hahn Street.
Funded through a $500,000 federal Transportation Alternatives Program grant awarded to Louisville in 2017 and matched with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet toll credits, the study is expected to be completed in the summer of 2020. There is no construction timeline or estimated cost at this time.
Drainage, traffic lane reduction and curb improvements are all things Metro Public Works and Gresham Smith are exploring in the study. However, keeping the original feel of the parkway designed by prominent 19th century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted is also a priority, Metro Public Works project manager John Swintosky said.
"Olmsted Parkways are a pleasant experience to get you from where you live or where you work to recreational facilities," Swintosky said. "That's the original intent, and today, there's no reason why it shouldn't be the same kind of thing."
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According to Mike Sewell, a principal at Gresham Smith, a major part of the study is getting public input about Eastern Parkway. The firm held its first public meeting Thursday afternoon at Audubon Traditional Elementary School to share various data it has collected on traffic and public sentiment and to gather people's thoughts.
Zach Wohl was one of roughly 100 people in attendance on Thursday. He said he came to the meeting because he cares about the improvement of the parkway, given that he lives off of it and travels on it frequently.
"I think it's hazardous, polluted and congested just about 24/7, and it's a public neighborhood street," Wohl said. "It's not an expressway, but it's being used as an expressway."
Sewell said that preserving the trees along the parkway is the top public concern. To alleviate that fear, the firm has consulted with Robert Rollins, an arborist of 36 years and owner of Greenhaven Tree Care in Louisville.
Rollins is surveying every tree along the section of Eastern Parkway under consideration for renovation — he estimated there to be more than 1,300 — to see if they are good, healthy trees or not. He assured that only bad or dangerous trees would be cut down.
"I won't let a good tree be taken down unnecessarily, but if a dangerous tree exists that could hurt someone, I'll be the first one to pick up a chain saw," Rollins said.
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Another potential proposal is changing the parkway from two lanes in each direction to one, with a center left-turn lane. While some at the meeting were concerned this would increase traffic, Swintosky said the move would decrease congestion while making the road safer.
"With two travel lanes in one direction, the first time somebody stops to make a left turn, you effectively have one lane until they're allowed to get out of the way," Swintowsky said. "If you reduce your travel lanes to one in each direction but have a center left-turn lane with that some of that space, you take all of that out of congestion, and you also severely reduce the number of rear-end traffic accidents."
Another public meeting will be held in August, when Gresham Smith will discuss the feedback it received from the public and potentially make new suggestions.
"It's a very iterative process," Sewell said. "We take these things very seriously."
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Contact Ben Tobin at bjtobin@gannett.com and 502-582-4181 or follow on Twitter @TobinBen. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: subscribe.courier-journal.com.
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