& asks for Sidewalk Diversions to become a standard tool in the design of worksites

Accomodating walking needs to be standard operating procedure not just on Main Street, but in the entire city.

Thank You!

Thanks go out to Louisville Department of Public Works & Assets and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for moving quickly to address this important issue! Thanks also to Phil Miller at the Mayor's office, Terra Long at Councilman Owen's office, and Rob Haynes at Councilman Tandy's office. The thanks are for this!:

Read more below the fold...

Protest Planned For Friday

UPDATE: check out the exciting news about Main Street.

Downtown Louisville has the most important sidewalks in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Not only are the walkers here incredibly numerous, but they're also the economic engine that keeps the state afloat. The business deals, the bus stops, the remote parking lots, the lunch meetings - all these trips have a walking component. So you would think that we would take special measures to keep walking downtown safe and dignified - it's just common sense.

Our elite cadre of CART photographers recently took to the streets to see how we're doing on that...

Here you see the long-standing Arena construction site. We're looking at Main Street between 2nd and 3rd. You can see they've blocked the sidewalk with a fence and some orange-and-white barricades (they're technically called "longitudinal channellizing devices" or LCDs).

Scott Render sends along a photo of the brand-new bike lane on 8th street.

In case you haven't noticed, the posting has been very slow in May, owing to this author's total commitment to Bike Month. :) YOU could author articles so this doesn't happen again.

The planned Spaghetti Junction expansion. Note how it surrounds the baseball stadium on the right and overshadows waterfront park on the bottom. Would Ike Like?

"Stuck in traffic in Washington, D.C. in 1959, President Eisenhower was shocked to learn that the delay was being caused by Interstate Highway construction. Surely the Interstates were being built between cities, not in them. The President demanded to know who was responsible for this state of affairs, only to be told he was; it was the result of legislation he had signed three years earlier. Aghast, Eisenhower attempted to get the federal government out of the urban freeway business. But it was too late: the program had built up momentum that not even he could halt.

Fifty years later, many planners and urbanists are still asking Eisenhower's question: Why did the United States, unlike every other developed country, choose to mass-produce freeways in cities?"

From: Paved With Good Intentions. 

Reserve your seat now, they're going fast!

If you give people nothing, they will go into the street.

Here's a sketch solution that gives the citizens of Louisville the same protection we give our road workers. This doesn't have to be the solution, but it seems workable based on my four visits to the site:

[editor's note: CART does not endorse candidates. Nevertheless, we view discussion of the proposal put forward yesterday as well within the scope of our organization]

Thursday, Dr Daniel Mongiardo gave a presentation to the CART membership calling for a massive investment in public transportation both state-wide and locally. This article deals with the first phase of the local plan, specifically, the construction of rapid access monorail (RAM) serving Louisville.

RAM cars are about the size of a van, with a seated capacity of 12 people, or a standing capacity of about 30 people. From a user's perspective, riding RAM is about like an elevator - you step in, after some seconds the doors close, and you're on your way. Peak speed is in excess of 50mph. The RAM sits atop a lean rail on a concrete pylon. The pylon is fairly compact, maybe a large telephone pole.

1800-2000

Source: U.S. Census

Rail Historian R. D. Schooling sends along this graph of Louisville's population. Note that this graphs the old city limits.

Amazing to see that our density has almost been cut in half since 1960. Also interesting to see that this trend has essentially played itself out. 2010 might be the last census in which Louisville's old city limits lose population. What then?

Photo deep-linked from the Courier-Journal

The Courier-Journal posted this story yesterday about the convtroversy over the ad benches that have been appearing along Louisville's state highways. 

The Cincinatti company claims they are aboveboard and have their ducks in a row:

Bruce Graumlich, president of the Bench Billboard Co., said he would only answer questions posed in writing. He said that his company has “sought and received permits” for the benches and that all are “lawfully placed.”

However, the benches, which have been placed on state highways, are not permitted, says KYTC: