Lakeside Swim Club. (Courtesy Bing)

Lakeside Swim Club is a huge complex of swimming pools in the Highlands of Louisville. The club draws people like a grocery store or small college, but it does so without car parking lots. How do they do it? Unusually for Louisville, Lakeside has meaningful policies and infrastructure that strongly encourage bicycling and walking.

Infrastructure

At first, the infrastructure is more noticeable. The club does have two small parking lots, one with space for 50 vehicles. Only you won’t be parking a car there: these parking lots are reserved primarily for bicycles. The racks fill all the way up on busy days. Had they opted to make a conventional Louisville parking lot, they would have only had space for 5 cars. They moved way more people with bike parking.

(David Morse / CART)

Also on the infrastructure front, they have many conspicuous crosswalks along the bustling suburban road Trevilian Way. These are more like the crosswalks you see on major arterials. The crosswalks are enough to get motorists to hit the brakes on this winding, tree-lined road. Letting your kid walk to the pool without adult supervision is something parents feel good about.

(David Morse / CART)

On-street parking further slows traffic on Trevilian.

Cynics might point out that it is the only thing standing in the way of a bike lane, which would create a more-or-less continuous bicycle facility to the Louisville Zoo, but that would also increase motorized traffic speeds, so I’m unsure if I have my feathers ruffled by this. The on-street parking is very popular, which means you’re not going to “just drive” to the pool, you’re going to “drive and then walk” to the pool.

There is also the neighborhood issue of the rather narrow sidewalk, and on only one side of Trevilian Way. The result is not good for side-by-side, but it is still functional for basic transportation, enjoying the gardens along the way.

(David Morse / CART)

Policy

If you’re looking to make things more walking and bicycling friendly, infrastructure is expensive and takes a long time to change. But more important than infrastructure is a policy which encourages walking and bicycling. Lakeside has this in spades.

(David Morse / CART)

Firstly, is their membership structure. Despite being the best pool in the city, Lakeside tries hard to be a neighborhood community builder. As such, they offer different, cheaper rates to land-owning residents within the neighborhood. By their own policy they have more customers in walking distance than average.

Secondly, is the way the club has apparently been grandfathered in through the land development code. You could not just tear out the swimming pool and drop in a Wal-Mart here. Land development code would force you to pave a square foot of parking lot for every square foot of building, and there would not be enough space.

As you’d expect for what amounts to a private club, Lakeside’s membership policy does not appear to promote economic or racial diversity. A visit on an average day reveals a sea of overwhelmingly white faces. Rather than fault Lakeside for this, we note that the homogenenity reflects the underlying lack of diversity in Louisville’s neighborhoods, stemming again from regressive choices in our zoning and our land development codes which keep things segregated. However, Lakeside does not offer its reduced rates to renters, which has obvious class segregation implications.

Results

A visit to the front of the pool will confirm that a huge fraction of the Louisvillians at the pool get so by walking or bicycling. These are suburban families, and even unaccompanied children, able to move about their streets freely due to active transportation friendly policy and infrastructure choices.

Louisville has a lot to learn from Lakeside Swim Club. Transportation can work without seas of asphalt parking. People adapt. Of course, some still choose to drive. Others car-pool and get dropped off curb-side. Still others take the initiative and choose walking or bicycling. Humans are adaptable, and there’s a lot of room for innovation in the way we’ve been transporting ourselves. Our standard parking requirements have been created to roll out the red carpet for one choice only – the car – at the expense of all the others. Hopefully, with Lakeside as an example, Louisville is starting to offer people more useful choices.

Related posts:

1. Iron Quarter Walking Tour Offered On Sunday (May 16)
2. Bicycling for Louisville hosting Third Annual Move-by-Bike
3. New Shelbyville Road Sidewalk: When Walking Isn’t Walkability
4. Video: Walking to Better Health 30 Minutes A Day

Planned changes to Cardinal Boulevard at First Street. (Courtesy UL)

Construction could begin any day now on a new streetscape project at the northern entrance to the University of Louisville that will bring a set of bike lanes to two blocks of Cardinal Boulevard between Brook and Second streets.

Existing conditions on Cardinal Boulevard. (Courtesy Lojic)

Plans call for a new decorative knee walls and a pair of fountains along Cardinal Boulevard and a new paving scheme including a large Cardinal logo at the intersection of Cardinal Boulevard and First Street similar to what was completed in 2008 at the university’s entrance on Third Street. Crosswalks will be demarcated using the new red brick pavers. The university hopes the pavers will help slow traffic through the area, but unless pavers with a greater texture than those installed on Third Street are used, the traffic calming effect will likely be minimal.

The boulevard currently is configured with two travel lanes in each direction with two lanes of parallel parking and either a planted median or turning lane in the center. The new design removes the parking lane, which hopefully means the bike lane will be wide and potentially buffered. (And that the travel lanes won’t be widened, which could increase speeds through the area.)

The project is funded through a federal grant and construction should wrap up by mid-August. Watch out for the parking lanes and sidewalks on the north side of the street  and a relocated TARC stop at First and Cardinal. No word on how pedestrians will be accommodated in the area during construction. Later this summer, work may require travel lane closure. [Via UL Today.]

No related posts.

Site of the deadly collision. (Courtesy Bing)

[UPDATE: WHAS is reporting that the driver who killed the child, Michael Penick, was on house arrest at the time of the incident and was not authorized to be on Beuchel Bank Road. He has now been arrested for violating his home incarceration. Regardless, if you have a suspended license, you shouldn't be driving. Period. If you injure or kill someone while driving on a suspended license, there should be pretty stiff consequences.]

A motorist with a suspended license and no insurance killed a 7-year-old girl walking home from a TARC bus stop with her family on Monday afternoon. According to police, 29-year-old Michael Penick left the scene, driving about 1,000 yards—about 7 city blocks or down the road and around the corner—down Buechel Bank Road from the collision. He was cited for his suspended license and lack of insurance and allowed to leave.

Bus stop near the deadly collision. (Courtesy Google)

Seven-year-old Aiyana Osborne and her family were returning from Walmart where they had purchased dinner for the evening. “Little Mama wanted some tacos for dinner, so that’s what we got, that’s what we were going to have for dinner,” Osborne’s soon-to-be-stepmother told Wave3. “There was a car coming that was speeding, and I jerked her back a little bit, but I didn’t jerk her back far enough apparently.” Police claim speeding was not involved and the driver said the girl ran in front of his vehicle. The family is speaking out against the light charges.

Looking around Buechel Bank Road at Sanford Avenue where this tragedy took place, the urban design of the neighborhood highlights the dangers pedestrians face daily that led to these horror stories. The family exited a north-bound TARC bus at little more than a stick in the side of the road marking a bus stop before walking behind the bus to cross the two-lane street. The speed limit here is marked at 35 miles per hour, but with no controlled intersections (i.e. stop light or stop signs) between the highway-like Buechel Bypass and General Electric’s Appliance Park—a distance of some 4,750 feet—it’s likely that a vast number of motorists speed through the residential corridor.

The entire length of Buechel Bank Road has only one crosswalk (in front of St. Bartholomew Elementary School) even though the street crosses several major arteries. A narrow sidewalk exists on one side of the street, but extremely wide turning radii at intersections with other residential streets allow drivers to speed through faster than is safe for pedestrians.

Above, you can see a bus shelter placed at the entrance to an apartment complex but the sidewalk ends before reaching Buechel Bank Road. To catch a bus traveling north, you would have to cross the street and tread through a dozen feet of grass to reach the next sidewalk.

Site of the collision. (Courtesy Google)

We need to recognize that uncontrolled straight-away speedways like Buechel Bank Road promote speeding and unsafe conditions for pedestrians. Many of us have driven on roads like this and know just how easy it is to succumb to the monotony of the straight road and not notice the speedometer climbing.

We could take a few simple steps to improve safety on streets like this including installing additional sidewalks—with noticeable crosswalks—and traffic calming designs like small roundabouts, chicanes, or stop signs that make it difficult for motorists to speed through. In a residential setting like this, it would also be useful to lower the speed limit to 30mph from 35 mph. (We all know how easily a speed limit of 35 mutates into 39 or 40.) These design changes could help to save lives.

Monday’s incident is similar to another collision in 2009 killing 2-year-old Napoleon Gunn as he and his family tried to cross Rangeland Road at Poplar Level Road also after getting off a TARC bus. ”There’s clearly not a sidewalk where my nephew was killed and it’s sad that they would even think to let you off there. I wouldn’t let somebody I gave a ride to off where I felt they weren’t protected and right there, they were not protected,” Allyson Purcell told WHAS 11. We need to begin improving our suburban pedestrian environments immediately, perhaps beginning with areas near TARC stops.

An example of chicanes from Austin, TX. (Courtesy LADOT Bike Blog)

Unsafe conditions on the road. (Courtesy Google)

Related posts:

1. Pedestrian Killed by Sleeping Motorist on Dixie Highway
2. Children Invited to TARC’s Design-a-Bus Contest
3. TARC Rolls Out Another Bus Music Video
4. Mystery Bus Slowly Decaying in the East Village

The New Orange Leaf Fro-Yo building. (Courtesy Forza Architecture)

A new fro-yo shop called Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt is about to open in the Gardiner Lane Shopping Center at 3012 Bardstown Road. Stephen Tracy, principal at Forza Architecture, shared this photo of the new building on what used to be a National City Bank on the site. As you can see, there will be a large outdoor seating area and there’s bike parking. Another Orange Leaf is already open farther out in the suburbs in Springhurst.

No related posts.

Ride a train in Louisville, if you're an elephant. (Courtesy Tipster)

This just in! Elephant-only train service now available in Louisville. A tipster sent us this great series of photos detailing the new Elephant Rapid Train Service now servicing Union Station in Downtown Louisville. A request for comment from TARC was denied, but this looks like rather, well, large news.

In reality, the elephants were in town for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that took place at the KFC Yum! Center over the weekend. A parade of elephants was seen slowly stomping down Broadway and throughout Downtown. There hasn’t been any passenger train service in Louisville for several years now, and our tipster informs us that tracks once leading to Union Station, TARC’s headquarters, have long been removed. One bit of good news, however: Mega Bus service has been restored in Louisville on a route between Chicago and Nashville, but no mega-animals on the Mega Bus.

No related posts.

The "plaza" at Jefferson Development Group's Main Street parking lot. (Branden Klayko)

A long-awaited development first announced in 2007 on the corner of Main and Jackson streets is set to be delayed another three years. Jefferson Development Group (JDG) had planned to build a pair of towers on top of a parking garage at 418 East Main Street, also known as the old D&W Silks site and demolished the D&W Silks property and another 19th century structure in 2009. JDG built a surface level parking lot in exchange for a series of binding elements with the city, one of which was a timetable to begin construction of the first phase of the project—the parking garage—by December 31, 2011. Now the developer is seeking an extension to begin phase one construction until December 31, 2014.

The "plaza" at Jefferson Development Group's Main Street parking lot. (Branden Klayko)

Robert Webber, president of JDG, did not return calls for this article, but had previously told Broken Sidewalk in January 2010 that his company would move forward with the twin towers once 50 to 60 percent of the planned 680,000 square feet of office space is leased. He described the design as offering flexible construction options including phased construction where the parking garage base and each of the towers could be built sequentially. It’s uncertain at this time why JDG decided to pursue the deadline extension.

While a developer seeking a construction extension is nothing new or sinister, the process that Metro Louisville has in place to deal with these binding elements is absurdly tipped away from the public interest. Planner Latondra Yates, who is handling the JDG case for Metro Louisville, said a number of binding elements were issued when demolition of the historic properties moved forward and the parking lot was built. “If you are going to tear down a historic building in Downtown, we would like to see a new building built there,” she said.

At the time, there was concern over the lack of demolition review process for two 19th century structures located in a historic district and the absence of “Intent to Demolish” signs posted on the buildings. It turned out that Metro Louisville declared the two buildings “non-contributing,” a designation typically awarded to modern intrusions like sheds or additions of poor quality, making their historic status meaningless.

With the buildings gone, binding elements helped to guide various components of the project from the design of the parking lot to the construction timetable. Because new parking lots are discouraged under the Downtown Development Review Overlay (DDRO) district, a “plaza” was incorporated into the plan, which is shown as the gravel area in the photos. For all the aesthetic beauty and functional space this plaza contributes to Downtown, it might as well have been added to the parking lot.

The real problem with this case, however, is that the binding element at stake is unenforceable under current Metro Louisville policy. Yates said there are no fines or penalties that can be issued to developers breaking or extending their binding construction deadlines. “They can’t be forced to build something if they don’t have the money,” she said. In fact, a developer could potentially be granted any number of extensions as long as they go through the review process. Yates said that if the extension were declined, the project may have to begin the development process over again, but that seems unlikely as the DDRO committee has already approved the extension.

In other cities, a binding element is just that, binding; and it can carry real consequences for breaking the schedule. The original agreement could have been structured to include fines, the developer could have been required to put capital up in advance that could then be surrendered, or the property itself could be in jeopardy. Instead in Louisville, we’re left with an ugly, non-functioning ”plaza,” a massive surface level parking lot, and we’re out two historic buildings that contributed to the street wall and could have been renovated if the project falls through.

Hopefully Jefferson Development Group will find the tenants it needs to begin construction ahead of the new 2015 deadline, but this example should be a cautionary tale for other projects with similar binding elements. The impending parking lot at Whiskey Row where two historic buildings will soon be torn down comes to mind.

A public meeting of the Development Review Committee regarding the construction deadline extension will be held on Wednesday, April 18 at 1:00 p.m. at 514 West Liberty Street.

The "plaza" at Jefferson Development Group's Main Street parking lot. (Branden Klayko)

No related posts.

A sidewalk in Louisville. (Branden Klayko)

Congratulations to Joshua Poe and David for correctly identifying our last sidewalk photo as Wiltshire Avenue looking toward Wilmington Avenue just north of Willis Avenue in the St. Matthews neighborhood. Here’s a new sidewalk ready to be identified in the comments.

Local News

• Louisville & Lexington point way to greater inter-regional cooperation. (Urbanophile)
• A postmodern gem, reconsidered: Graves’ Humana Building a skyline fixture. (Blair Kamin)
• Shakespeare Festival looking at Theater Square for new theater space. (Insider, WFPL)
• Forget running, Lucky Horseshoe residents park for the roses. (The Paper)
• Root Cellar in Old Louisville is a finalist for national honor. (Metro Lou)
• Grilled Cheese restaurant planned for Bardstown Road. (Megabites)

• Ohio River tops nation in polluted discharges. (C-J)
• Malfunction at MSD sends 2.5 million gallons of sewage into the Ohio River. (WFPL, Fatlip)
• The Fallout: New report looks at lingering consequences of foreclosure. (LEO)
• Derby clock might not be installed downtown in time for this year’s Derby. (C-J)
• Roofless historic New Albany building finally getting a new roof. (N&T)
• Travel writer gushes on Louisville’s park system. (Active Travels)
• A chair by the Speed Museum architect Kulapat Yantrasast. (Twitter)
• Decca is an icon in the making. (HotBytes)
• Thinker statue secrets revealed. (WFPL)
• Zoes Kitchen planning location in St. Matthews. (Biz First)
• Massive “resort style” sprawl complex planned for Middletown. (C-J)
• City says Occupy Louisville must give up its camp. (WFPL, C-J)
• Louisville shows modest growth in past year. (Biz First)

• New2Lou website launch party at Butchertown Market on April 11. (New2Lou)
• UL to host “Public Art and the City” event on April 13. (UL Today)
• 15k Farmers Beginning Food Growing Workshop set for April 14. (KYgreenTV)
• Public meeting on the Louisville Loop trail planned for April 16. (Metro Lou)
• Marcus Lindsay open house at The Church on Main Street April 19. (Facebook)

• Southern Indiana pedestrian critically hit by drunk driver. (N&T, WAVE, C-J, WDRB)
• Louisville man tried to flee after he struck pedestrian with car. (WDRB)
• Hoosiers to pay 80% of local tolls for Ohio River Bridges Project. (Urbanophile)
• Five teams competing for bridges project. (Biz First, WFPL)
• Slideshow of demolition of $380,000 houses in path of East End Bridge. (WHAS)
• Bike thief: “People steal bikes all the time!” (WDRB)
• TARC announces winners of its kids’ Design-a-Bus competition. (Metro Lou, Flickr)

• Oregon DOT nixes “highway division” for “multi-modal” system. (StreetsBlog)
• If 1/3 of the U.S. biked a mile a day, we could save $17 billion. (Biz Insider)
• Boom in biking benefits everyone, not just cyclists. (Shareable)
• Parking minimums create too many parking spots. (Atlantic Cities)
• Empty spaces: Can parking lots be great? (Tom Vanderbilt)

• Census finds record low growth in outlying suburbs. (AP)
• Interactive map: America’s romance with sprawl may be over. (USA Today)
• The era of big box retail dominance is coming to an end. (Bloomberg)
• Researchers: Walmart depresses rural wages. (Rural Blog)
• Prohibition still exists, mainly in the rural south. (Rural Blog, BBC)
• Researchers: U.S. obesity problem worse than previously thought. (BBC)
• Report: Banks fail to maintain foreclosed homes in minority neighborhoods. (HuffPo)
• A new, better way to look at housing price trends with Trulia. (Matrix)
• How to figure the value of empty building lots. (Zillow)
• A Yelp to let us compare cities and towns. (Ed Glaeser)
• Green infrastructure goes large in New York. (Dirt)
• The brilliant economics of green buildings. (Forbes)
• The Midwest’s big economic miscalculation. (Atlantic Cities)
• Cincy mayor heralded as national leader in smart growth. (Urban Cincy)
• New Urbanism: Old-fashioned design for the long run. (Blair Kamin)
• Science for designers: The meaning of complexity. (Metropolis POV)

No related posts.

Billboard Benches on Shelbyville Road. (Courtesy Google)

A new ordinance sponsored by Metro Council President Jim King with Council Members Henderson, Blackwell, and Engel proposes a permitting process and fee for the ubiquitous billboard benches that appear along streets across Louisville. The city has been fighting these bench ads for years now, each time threatened with lawsuits from the advertising companies who pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

The proposal seeks to impose a $50 annual administrative fee for privately placed street furniture in the public right of way from bike racks to trash cans to billboard benches. A permit would issued by the Department of Public Works taking into account the exact placement of each item to ensure safety. If a bench is illegally placed, the city could remove it, issue a $10 fine recurring at $8 a day.

Additional oversight on these rather ugly intrusions into public space should be welcome. These benches–and there are hundreds of them–can generate between $1,000 and $6,500 per year, with none of the profits going to Metro Louisville. Profits often are taken out of state. (See photos of about 150 billboard benches in Louisville compiled bu Jim King’s office, warning: large PDF.) While these billboard benches are certainly not attractive or even comfortable, they do often provide the only street furniture available in suburban settings and at bus stops, and when you’re waiting 15 or more minutes for a bus, it’s nice to have a place to sit. So how do we regulate them to ensure better design, placement, and safety?

But it seems this ordinance might not even be needed as Public works already has a protocol for permitting objects in  public space clearly posted on its web site. A PDF on the rules and regulations governing benches in the public right of way require a permit with a $100 fee to be renewed on an annual basis. The process also caps the number of bench permits that can be issued each year at 100, whether it’s a decorative bench placed by a local business or a billboard bench by an out of town company. Further, the rules cover design, quality, and maintenance of the bench to ensure the most aesthetically pleasing outcome and a permit number must be displayed on the bench. If a bench is illegally placed without a permit, the city can remove the obstruction.

But instead of grouping these billboard benches in with all other street furniture, can we use their money-generating nature to help improve our public realm? Can we have a separate permit classification for street furniture whose primary purpose is to generate money from advertising? With each of the hundreds of benches generating thousands of dollars a year, is a $50 fee (half of what the fee is now) enough to ask from these out-of-state advertising companies like Blue Line Media, CBS Outdoor, and others?

In LA, the city contracted with a private bench company to install up to 6,000 billboard benches at bus stops over ten years, generating income for the city. These benches have large ads on them but are made of more durable metal with what appears to be marginally more comfortable design. (More info.)

Louisville can also use these billboard benches for its own advantage. Instead of creating a duplicate permitting process for benches in the public right of way that appears weaker than the existing process, let’s create one specifically designed for billboard benches that dictates high quality, comfortable design with durable materials and charge fees that reflect the revenue-generating nature of these devices. This ordinance could go much further toward improving public space around transit stops in Louisville.

Council President King’s concept was approved by the Metro Council Public Works, Bridges, and Transportation Committee and now moves on to the full Metro Council on Thursday.

No related posts.

A sidewalk in Louisville. (Branden Klayko)

Congratulations to Porter Stevens, Brad, and Blair Whyte for correctly identifying our last sidewalk photo and its serious tree canopyas Boulevard Napoleon between Douglass Boulevard and Harvard Drive in the Belknap neighborhood. Here’s a new photo ready for identification in the comments. Have a great weekend!

Local Events

• Learn beekeeping basics with Fleur-de-Bee on April 22. (WHAS)
• iMatter march on Saturday hopes to unite youth around climate change. (B4L)
• UL photo exhibit shows disappearing America through June 29. (UL Today)
• Public art and the city symposium set for April. (U of L)
• Food Truckus Ruckus planned for April 21. (Slow Food)
• Preservation Lou. holding historic tax credit workshop tomorrow. (P-L)
• Sign up for the National Bike Challenge that starts on May 1. (Bike League)
• Waterways Alliance plans Harrods Creek paddle event on Earth Day. (David Wicks)

Local News

• Lou. a possible site for 2017 American Legion convention. (C-J)
• Slow Food USA will hold national congress in Lou. next month. (WFPL)
• Fair board reviewing offers for luxury hotel at Expo Center. (C-J)
• Jeffersonville group plans transitional housing downtown. (WFPL)
• French Indo-Canada food truck planned by Holy Mole founder. (Kickstarter)
• Hillbilly Tea is starting its own farm. (Consuming Lou)
• Pie Kitchen commits to using local ingredients. (Consuming)
• Brewery restaurant/bar reopens on Baxter Avenue. (C-J, Insider)
• Taking stock of eagles living in Shippingport. (Lou Naturally)
• The new old Louisville starts to hum. (Chi Tribune)
• Lou. embraces newfound, lively cocktail scene. (Chi Tribune)
• Visit Louisville, a celebrated culinary destination. (Tuscaloosa)
• Infographic shows why Louisville is awesome. (Loueyville)
• Kentucky is among the most religious states. (Page One)

• National bike route comes through Clark County. (N&T)
• Paths for Louisville Loop sought in Southwest county. (C-J)
• Work starts on Jeffersonville ramp to Big Four ped/bike bridge. (C-J)
• Taxi crashes through downtown convention center. (C-J, WAVE, WDRB)
• Bridges financing plan assumes future Sherman Minton tolls. (C-J)
• Yarmuth: Fed. approval coming soon for ORBP EIS. (Insider)
• Op-Ed: Restructure bridge plan for Ohio River. (H-L)
• Lou. to increase use of parking ‘boot.’  (C-J)
• When a parking lot is so much more. (NY Times)
• The younger generation loses interest in cars. (NY Times)
• Why bicyclists are better customers than drivers for local business. (StreetsBlog)

• Wendell Berry talks capitalism, socialism, farming.  (B&P)
• No vacancy: Unleashing the potential of empty urban land. (Grist)
• Suburbs face twin perils of climate change & peak oil. (SciAm)
• Why revealing buildings’ energy use creates jobs. (SSC)
• New EPA rules limit carbon pollution for future power plants. (WFPL)
• Is your city design-center or place-centered? (PPS)
• Hollywood planning massive park atop a highway. (Arch Paper)
• Cash mobs gather to splurge in locally-owned stores. (Reuters)
• Where the green jobs are. (Atlantic Cities)
• The science of quieter cities. (Atlantic Cities)

No related posts.

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

[Editor's Note: Nicholas Seivers is an urban planner and long-time supporter of Broken Sidewalk. In his spare time, he reimagines the city through his planning lens. He is currently working with TARC on long-term planning and is owner of the Louisville-based planning and design company Urban Composition.]

Last year I was looking around Louisville for areas of unrealized potential. I dutifully followed Broken Sidewalk for development announcements. I kept up with all of the local economic development and planning offices for larger scale plans. While sitting on the Louisville wharf looking across the river, I recalled how the then mayor of Jeffersonville regarded the Louisville skyline as an asset for Southern Indiana. I wondered why there was only one residential tower facing back at Louisville. The clock of the former Colgate factory was the only remarkable feature on the Southern Indiana skyline, though not necessarily the most prominent.

I dug a little further. On more than one occasion, I actually crossed the Ohio River. I spoke with staff with the Cities of Clarksville and Jeffersonville. I did a little more research on the Bridges Project. Being in the space I was able to appreciate what the area was used for and where priorities were placed over the years. It wasn’t until I measured the distance from Downtown Louisville to the Colgate Factory that I was ready to put pen to paper. It is closer to Downtown than are the Highlands. It could be anything.

The following is adapted from a presented at Pecha Kucha Night Louisville No. 5 in the fall of 2011. For the purposes of this presentation I will use examples found in Southern Indiana. In this report, I will talk about what I see in this area. In all map views–the Ohio River is at the Bottom of the image; the diagonal line is Interstate 65.

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

I started this investigation through a familiar technique of looking for the landmarks that are characteristic of the study area. I have identified some of the places, streets, and districts that we might recognize in Clarksville or Jeffersonville. These landmarks are all within two miles of Downtown Louisville.

The familiar technique, terms, and graphics are those developed by Kevin Lynch. What I take from Lynch is his way of capturing many themes having to do with urban design, over a large area, in a series of simple maps. His maps recognize a pattern (District) and identify when that pattern ends (Edges). Lynch found different characteristics, both positive and negative, in streets (Paths) and identified when something in the pattern stands out (Landmarks). I find that those methods quickly inventory and filter information useful in large area planning.

When I looked for paths and districts I perceived a significant boundary–both municipal and physical–that separated the Jeffersonville community from the Clarksville community. What we use to travel through Southern Indiana creates a hard edge between both places. Natural connections between Clarksville and Jeffersonville and the river have been interrupted by Interstate 65. The interstate ramps are disorienting.

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

I then looked for planning studies that might take advantage of some of the existing landmarks, address some of the boundary and aesthetic concerns, and otherwise develop Southern Indiana. Some of the major plans currently under way include the Ohio River Bridges Project, the Big Four Bridge, the Ohio River Greenway, Jeffersonville’s Canal, and Colgate Plan redevelopment. Each planning study addresses the problem that it was assigned.

The Bridges Project solves the problem of building bridges. The Bridges impact in Southern Indiana would make it harder to build a strong urban community. The alignment of the new I-65 and exit ramps would separate both communities by a distance of a city block. Road infrastructure would be built over what could have been valuable real estate. The transportation network would not include comfortable places for street side cafes or leisurely strolls. Though some sketches at the end of the report revise how new ramps and lanes interact with the streets below, I believe that most of this concept could be successfully implemented however the Bridges are built. If the Bridges are built as proposed it would only diminish the collective redevelopment potential of Clarksville and Jeffersonville. (This is a design critique and not a commentary on the project.)

The Canal Project, after solving the storm water issue, solves the problem of generating interest in Jeffersonville. The Canal doesn’t focus enough on growing or sustaining a neighborhood. It is proposed to have more places to park a car than to live or work. Though it appears now, with the change in administration, that neither the shops nor the canal will be built.

The Colgate Factory is a great structure that is planned for redevelopment. Unfortunately, it is isolated from other centers of activity and redevelopment.

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

This close up shows the transportation network after the Canal and Bridges Plans are implemented. At least, so far as I can tell, this is what it would look like. These are your options for your work, home, and shopping sorts of trips. Southern Indiana is dominated by the I-65 axis. Clarksville has few paths through the formerly industrial areas by the river side. Jeffersonville would have fewer paths if the Canal and Bridges Plans are constructed.

I see more connections as part of the transportation, development, and urban design solution. More connections with the ability to carry trips made by numerous modes. More connections to define the spaces that we have to build buildings.

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

To consider the quality and adaptability of the connection, here are several examples from Clarksville and Jeffersonville. As a driver, what information–what queues–do these thoroughfares give you as to speed, destination, and expectation? If you thought these were urban streets, as I can’t help to, you would have been wrong.

Every time I was on Tenth Street headed southwest, I expected it to continue on as a street. The abrupt transition to on ramp caught me off guard. That to me would be a natural connection between Clarksville and Jeffersonville. Both would benefit by opening up new opportunities in real estate and redundancy in transportation.

The decisions made to connect Indianapolis to Louisville have isolated parts of Southern Indiana. There are places to eat on the other side of Interstate 65 from Colgate. The pedestrians in the picture in the lower-left are braving their way towards this destination.

The image in the lower left was a fortunate observation. I am not certain why any two people would attempt to make this crossing. This clearly illustrates the impediment created by filling the height of the interstate to the ground or building long, unregulated streets not meant to be crossed. Why would a road not go through?

What is a highway connection in the top-right picture lines up with a street that dead ends in the picture below it. I think that making this connection and others like it is a challenge worth undertaking. Our streets create a framework from which we build our cities.

It is not enough to just make a connection. A bridge makes a connection. What does the road connection do? Does it offer places for businesses? Residences? Places for doors to open onto the street? Or does it just get you from here to there? (And does it do that well?)

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

The Bridges Plan would have us flyover Southern Indiana and continue on through the area despite whatever is happening on the lower level. Businesses do not connect to the flyover ramp. You cannot get a cup of coffee 40 feet above Court Avenue. If you wanted to stop, how would know where to? Or how to?

For several miles north of Tenth Street, I-65 is flanked by access roads. These are neither pure ramps or pure streets. They certainly are not places where businesses open on to. But why not? It could be more surface area for businesses to grow.

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

Instead of the disorienting points of entry on creeping interchanges and climbing flyover ramps, I propose a loop between the southern-most two Southern Indiana exits that would allow mobility options for traffic to move around and into the surrounding street network. Priority would be given to traffic that moves on this loop in the morning and evening.

So that the loop can provide some redundancy to the highway above but still be a vibrant, revenue generating street, during most other hours of the day, most other days of the year – specific design and access requirements must be adopted.

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

These are the roads that I think will have to specifically accommodate bicycle commuters, in addition to cars. Most bicyclists should be able to ride with traffic on the other routes. Shown here, are the most direct routes to and from Downtown Louisville.

These roads are primarily for vehicles today. These are the roads that would need additional treatments before introducing bicycle commuters.

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

This is what I imagine to be the appropriate building massing where the Second Street bridge ends near the Interstate 65 interchange. In my regional mental map, I see the corner of Missouri and Court in Jeffersonville rivaling the corner of State and Main in New Albany.

Here, we reveal the rest of the street alignment, building massing, and land use concept plan for the area. The key to this plan is Re-Imagine-ing the Colgate Plant and redeveloping the Marathon Oil site. This new, Urban neighborhood is strengthened by improved connections to Louisville and to Jeffersonville.

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

This is the non-vehicular transportation plan. Commuter Bike lanes are shown in dashed green lines. Commuter Rail in Purple. I imagine a Train Stop on the Colgate site, where those lines converge in the top-left part of the image. (This is a suggested location for a stop. If commuter rail is ever introduced, this intersection should be developed around transit.) This would truly connect Louisville and Southern Indiana neighborhoods, business districts, and industrial parks.

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

This is the future most famous intersection in Southern Indiana. The ornate tower marks the northeast intersection of Missouri Avenue and Court Avenue.

I imagine towers with expansive views of the river and the Louisville skyline, placed amongst townhouse and corner-store concepts, all aligned in an appropriate urban-grid pattern, within two miles of Downtown Louisville.

Seeing Southern Indiana. (Courtesy Nicholas Seivers)

I see opportunity in Southern Indiana. I believe that it looks something like this.

The old oil tanks make way for a park. The riverfront is reclaimed by park. The floodwall is disguised by park design and building architecture. Court Avenue finds its way through the old warehouse development that now includes Kyes to the new development. The boulevard of Second Street continues across the river as Missouri Avenue. Clarksville connects with Jeffersonville. Towers and low rises for residences, offices, shops, and hotels create a new identity for Southern Indiana. Maybe a convention hotel and steak house with views of the Louisville skyline establish a brand on Riverside Avenue. People with dogs and iPads make a neighborhood in a place where there is little of it now. It begins with a little regional cooperation and a motivated team to spark and maintain a vision for Southern Indiana.

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