Eastern Parkway study meeting

The first public meeting will be held July 11 to collect public input to a project aimed at updating the Eastern Parkway corridor between Cherokee Park and Crittenden Drive to make it safer and more user friendly to motorists, transit users, pedestrians and bicyclists while improving drainage and landscaping. The Eastern Parkway Transportation Study is being 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 will consider such elements as sidewalk and curb improvements, shared use pedestrian paths, bike connectivity and other complete streets alternatives aimed at accommodating the transportation modes of all users of the corridor. Frederick Law Olmstead’s firm designed Eastern Parkway more than 100 years ago as a recreational traffic link to one of Louisville’s biggest parks. That design did not contemplate what is now up to 17,000 motorists using the road each day along with the walkers and bicyclists. The study is aimed at updating the parkway to better accommodate all modern users while being respectful of the original parkway characteristics. Completion of the study is anticipated in the summer of 2020. It will include recommendations on design elements and associated cost estimates. The Gresham Smith engineering and design firm is leading the study under the direction of Public Works project manager John Swintosky.