Does Louisville need another bridge? (home, neighborhood, maintenance)

[slowlane3]

An article in this week's New York Times, critical of Louisville's highway planning (To exit the pop-up ad, click in upper right corner)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/ar...me&ref=general

[tomocox]

I, for one, agree with most of the writers points. Yes, the east end bridge is needed, but no, the second downtown bridge is folly precipitated actually to prevent the entire project.

I am a firm supporter of mass transit. No, not buses, but monorail and only monorail. Disney has proven the technology over decades. It works! Monorail can fit between the downtown buildings and over the arterial streets and highways with almost no intrusion or demolition.

[WestVsEast]

Originally Posted by tomocox

I, for one, agree with most of the writers points. Yes, the east end bridge is needed, but no, the second downtown bridge is folly precipitated actually to prevent the entire project.

I am a firm supporter of mass transit. No, not buses, but monorail and only monorail. Disney has proven the technology over decades. It works! Monorail can fit between the downtown buildings and over the arterial streets and highways with almost no intrusion or demolition.

I totally agree. Instead of the city wasting money on another bridge that would have little use for people who live in Louisville why not invest in building a better public transportation system. I think a monorail system shooting throughout the city to the suburbs would be amazing and bring alot of people downtown on a more frequent basis. I think most people in the suburbs would love to come downtown but with the options so limited they just stay home or find other things to do in the suburbs. A monorail system would bring a ton of excitement to a city that dearly needs it, whereas another bridge just brings more hoosiers from Indiana to steal jobs. I dont get it.

[thunderkat59]

I understand the necessity of moving traffic efficiently but in a way I am against constantly building out just to accommodate cars. Every time you add a road you take away something from your city you cant get back. Another depersonalized, devalued entity replacing one that might have had other possibilities for adding value and quality of life for the people who actually reside in the area. Lousivilles problems are the result of letting developers dictate terms for decades of build-outs. I feel we should just say "enough is enough" and work on a more modern, world class method of moving people through the city. People would obviously be resistant to being torn from their cars, but I think a thought process that is based more on 2025 instead of 1955 will be to everybodies benefit, long-term. Drive 695 or 95 through Baltimore at rush hour, look at cities that keep building out for cars instead of people, then ask yourself if you would want to live there?

[The Dissenter]

I think one factor that needs to be closely considered with any bridge decision is that the bridges will definitely not carry only Louisville traffic. Having a highway like I-65 which goes from Chicago down to Alabama and has several notable cities it goes through there will always be out-of-town traffic to consider. I do think that if anything, you build a new bridge simply because the Kennedy is nearing the end of its useful life. There is also emergency evacuation to consider. Public transit won't be much help in that aspect.

[censusdata]

Louisville needs 2 bridge - 2 to make a complete loop of I-65. THEN see if another downtown bridge is still need. The East End bridge has been "shovel ready" project with 2 freeways just 6 miles apart for 30 years. The fact that a few rich land owners and far fringe leftwing groups (River Fields) could hold an entire region hostage and prevent a needed bridge from being built makes a farce of our democracy.

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by The Dissenter

I think one factor that needs to be closely considered with any bridge decision is that the bridges will definitely not carry only Louisville traffic. Having a highway like I-65 which goes from Chicago down to Alabama and has several notable cities it goes through there will always be out-of-town traffic to consider. I do think that if anything, you build a new bridge simply because the Kennedy is nearing the end of its useful life. There is also emergency evacuation to consider. Public transit won't be much help in that aspect.

That's the same overlooked points with most interstate road projects. People complain out West Virginia but I'm glad I have good roads to connect me from Kentucky to Philadelphia to visit an aunt and cousins up there in an easy day's drive.

[JaxRhapsody]

I dont think anything needs to be done to the system besides an east end bridge. If you look on a map there are no other bridge's past prosect. Even outside the county. The light rail system was a flop even before planning. Theres no room for cars, bike paths and a tram or trolley. But they could use the existing 90 yer old trolley ttracks that are still laid out. I say just build the east end bridge. If the people want another bridge downtown, they can ride their bikes across tbe big four when its done. This isnt chicago or where ever, we dont need a bridge every six blocks.

[Msradell]

Everybody in Louisville (with the possible exception of River Fields) has been saying for a long time to build the east end bridge and then see what happens at the very least. Actually the far west end bridge from the end of I-265 makes more sense than an additional downtown one! Mass transit will never work with the existing population density of Louisville, it isn't concentrated enough to make the cost per mile effective. The idea of a monorail is completely ridiculous because of the costs, even Disney isn't building more monorail track and they actually show a profit every year!

[JaxRhapsody]

I really dont think there's room for a monorail. Unless it ran along the waterfront going no more than two miles in to whatever neighborhood they wanted to build a station. Cost to build and maintenance would exceed the price of two bridges and whatever else is planned, like that stupid offramp they want to slice through water front park with.