by Bike Courier | Jun 20, 2015 | Advocacy
We sent the following to all KY State Legislators… Honorable Legislators, The following letter to Lexington’s mayor expresses a frustration that many of your constituents may experience. You can help solve this problem that many communities are experiencing. We invite your participation. Grateful. Jackie Green === Mayor Jim Gray, Is Lexington, like Louisville, experiencing a loss of freedom to improve local community due to restrictions imposed by KY Transportation Cabinet? I am working with an adhoc group including UofL, Manual/YPAS High School, Noe Middle School, Jefferson County Public Schools, Old Louisville residents, Metro Councilmembers, etc. who want a slower speed limit in the vicinity of those adjacent schools. KYTC says “No!”. “No!” seems to be a favorite KYTC expression. Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods want 2 way streets. KYTC says “No!”. KYTC says “No!” because of the OH River Bridges Project construction. KYTC says “No!” because of upcoming OMNI Hotel construction. KYTC says “No!” because of upcoming convention center construction. Construction will always be with us. Construction is no reason to delay improving our community. School zone speed limit concerns vs. KYTC concerns are not limited to the schools mentioned. This lack of municipal freedom extends far beyond downtown and the near neighborhoods. Further, I suspect Lexington and others local governments (KY League of Cities ??) are experiencing the same KYTC disregard for local community needs. Louisville Metro Public Works cannot take on KYTC alone. As a result LMPW must adopt KYTC policies/practices. Below is a recent letter from Public Works to Councilwoman Butler in response to our request for a safe speed limit around UofL, duPont Manual High School...
by Bike Courier | Jun 20, 2015 | Advocacy
Cars and trucks traveling over the 35 mph speed limit and cyclists, both flanked by concrete columns. This death trap is on the south side of the Manual/YPAS High School, Noe Middle School and University of Louisville corridor. On either side of the trap are hundreds of student housing units. Other cities have saner school zone speed limits. We, along with Jefferson County Public Schools, Metro Council Members and Old Louisville residents and businesses asked Louisville Public Works for a lower speed limit. Public Works refused the request. Stay...
by Bike Courier | Apr 18, 2015 | Advocacy
On Friday morning, an angry cyclist came into my bicycle shop, Bike Couriers, complaining that the city had closed the Clark Memorial Bridge (Second Street) and the Big Four Bridge for Thunder Over Louisville. He could not get to Indiana by bike. I asked him to consider the anger of the bus riders who will show up at bus stops this Sunday only to find a street-closing event,CycLOUvia, has rerouted and rescheduled the buses that take them to work. Once again Louisville will sabotage the public transit system, and TARC riders, already burdened by very infrequent service on weekends, will find both the TARC schedules and the TARC routes blown. People who depend on the bus will be late for work, may miss work entirely, could lose their jobs as a result. Grandchildren will not get to visit grandma. Mothers’ grocery shopping plans will be trashed. Public transit-subversive events are not limited to the cycling community. Charity runs/walks, races, fairs, parades all share responsibility. Such events take place nearly every spring, summer and fall weekend. Cities and citizens depend on the reliability of urban public transit systems. No compassionate city would do this to those dependent on public transit. Louisville would do well to apply to events the real estate adage “location, location, location.” River Road, for instance, is a beautiful corridor with no significant cross streets and no TARC routes. Why not make River Road, a park, or an equivalent venue the “parade route”? The question before us is one of venue; the question does not challenge the event. For those cyclists who are up in arms about my raising this issue,...
by Bike Courier | Aug 4, 2014 | Advocacy
As one who cycles in the snow along the track of car tires, where the asphalt is clear of snow & often dry as a result of the car traffic, I wonder what winter holds for our bike lanes & cyclists who use or avoid them. Behind these questions is a desire to see year-round bike commuters in Louisville. Will the bike lanes be plowed & salted? Will the floppy ‘bollards’ obstruct clearing the bike lanes? Will the slush from passing cars drench cyclists in the bike lane? Will cyclists in riding in the clean tracks of the cars be splattered (or worse) by motorists impatiently passing by using the slushy, icy bike...
by Bike Courier | Mar 9, 2014 | Advocacy
OK, too many people are asking, so here it is. Wednesday I called the two parties responsible for the decision to close the bridge to pedestrians, Walsh Construction & KY Transportation Cabinet (contacts: Max Rowland of Walsh and Andy Barber KYTC Project Manager). Even though the work affecting the bridge is on the Indiana side of the bridge, KYTC is the responsible agency rather than IN Department of Transportation. INDOT is responsible for the east end ORBP bridge, KYTC is responsible for the downtown ORBP bridge. Walsh Construction was contacted because they will have to do the actual work as outlined by KYTC. Contacts were made with media, the mayor’s office, several attorneys, Barry Zalph (founder of Bicycling for Louisville), agencies on both side of the river and others. Thursday morning city engineer Dirk Gowin called, ah, the chronology is wrong, Max called back stating that Walsh simply figures out how to execute and then executes the decisions of KYTC. I assured Max that we understood Walsh’s role and that our contact was one of courtesy to make sure Walsh had adequate ‘heads up’. OK, back to city engineer Dirk and friend of many years. Dirk called with a quick, simple plan that guaranteed pedestrian access across the river/state line. I agreed with him that his was an elegant solution assuring him that we would support his plan. I had not hung up the phone from that call before a KYTC manager called. His was a hard line ‘No. We are closing the bridge to pedestrians… We did not have to accommodate pedestrians in Madison… etc.’ I suggested that...
by Bike Courier | Mar 8, 2014 | Advocacy
Question re: last year’s Thunder & Big 4 bridge… Was B4 closed to the public Thunder 2013?...
