Updated 1/15/2010!: read below the fold.

The city has issued a permit shutting down walking on one side of Bardstown Road for almost a month. Crossing to the other side of the road is highly impractical - Bardstown is a busy 4 lane arterial. They can require the construction of a plywood tunnel, but they have not. They can annex the adjacent flex lane for people on foot, but they have not. There's a whole library of tools they could employ, but they have not.

They're hoping you take no action and keep quiet.

Call 311 today and tell them you want them to find a way to open this sidewalk on this formerly accessible corridor. Then forward this message to your friends.

Bardstown Road near Edgeland Ave, 1-11-2009

This is not an isolated incident, nor is it an accident that Louisville is always ranked very poorly in walking safety. The city is constantly permitting crass sidewalk blockages - a similar closure recently put 2nd street out of action for months, and Broadway is closed for weeks every year for the Derby.  The results speak for themselves: in 2009 we were ranked the 7th most dangerous city by Dangerous By Design, a study undertaken by STPP and T4America.

At some level the city knows these closures result in people taking risks. But even more insidious is the destruction of walking as a viable means of transportation. When you stand in front of this closed sidewalk, no number of walkability plans will convince you that walking is valued in Louisville. Perhaps that's why "Maintain pedestrian-ways during construction and special events" was listed as a major short-term objective (4.3) of the Louisville Community Walkability Plan of 2008. Clearly we haven't gotten that done, and this goal is absent from the 2009 Community Walkability Report Card.

Lets Fight Back. Call 311 about Bardstown Road. Forward this to your friends.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will annexing a traffic lane as an ad-hoc sidewalk hopelessly clog motorized traffic?
A: No. You can go observe illegally parked cars every day of the week, blocking lanes during rush hour. Traffic just goes around them. It is no big deal.

Q: What does the local Metro Councilman say?
A: Tom Owen currently feels that the status quo is the wisest allocation of our streetscape. Clearly, he needs to hear from you.

Q: Can't people just cross to the other side of the street?
A: Yes, if their time is worth nothing. The nearest signalized crosswalks to the closing are Longest (1200 ft) and Eastern Parkway (700 feet). People walk as slow as 3.5 feet per second (source: MUTCD). When you discover the closure and begin backtracking, you actually have to walk the distance again to get back to the light. Throw in one or two incredibly slow crosswalk signals at about two minutes each. Total delay northbound is 8-10 minutes. Total delay southbound is 13-15 minutes. The equivalent delay for motorists would be routing traffic from the Airport to Oxmoor via I-264 clockwise!

All that time is to avoid motorists having to merge, an operation that takes mere seconds and does not impede forward progress at all!

Needless to say, people on foot are not morons, and they won't stand for this much delay. Instead they will opt for a faster but more dangerous route. We witnessed people running in the gutter for a block. Others jaywalked across the arterial. The city should be held liable for any injuries or deaths that occur. They know jaywalking is the inevitable result of this sidewalk closure. A person was killed downtown a few years ago for exactly this reason (link forthcoming ... we're digging).

Q: But don't fewer people walk this time of year anyway?
A: "Don't fewer people drive this time of year too?" Where's all the macho-yet-afraid-of-cold Harley riders that Fester and Buzz on Bardstown Road in summer? Where is the "Pool Party Express"? Recreational road use takes a hit in the winter, period. Meanwhile, people that have to get around, tend to get around using the same tools they use year round, be they walking, running, driving, or TARCing. Until we see a study of this corridor that says otherwise, we reject the assumption that there are a higher percentage of utilitarian motorists than there are utilitarian walkers.

Bardstown Road is a utilitarian walking transportation corridor. That's why it exists. That's why it is 'Keeping Louisville Wierd', while its competitors like Shelbyville Road are cookie-cutter automotive slums. Walkability is Bardstown Road's #1 competitive advantage. You don't put your flagship in drydock if you can help it!

Q: Isn't the development going in there going to be great!
A: We're excited about the development too, and we're abjectly not going after the developer. Our preferred solution during the wall construction phase is to annex a through lane of traffic, like so:

Closed traffic lane in a more committed city.