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Route changes potentially coming to busy Louisville street to decrease traffic volume

Public Works said 3,200 drivers take Pope Street every day.
Credit: Aspen Hester/WHAS-TV
Street sign for Pope Street in Louisville, Kentucky.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Pope Street in Clifton Heights will be seeing some changes.

Metro Councilmember Andrew Owen invited District 9 to a community meeting Wednesday to discuss a new traffic control program potentially being implemented on Pope Street, and to get the community's feedback on the idea.

"What can we do to try and help our friends on Pope Street?" Owen asked. "Change driver behavior, number one, in other words what route people chose to take. And number two, we might be able to get Pope Street off the Google Maps algorithm."

Public Works said 3,200 drivers take Pope Street every day.

The potential traffic control program for Pope Street, which Owen said has never been implemented in Louisville before, would include a diagonal converter at Pope Street and Arlington Avenue to re-route drives off of Pope.

"Our idea is to have speed humps here and then 'do not enter' signs," said Public Works Transportation Planner Supervisor Nathan Keltch.

 Signage and detours, deterrents that businesses along Pope Street hope drivers heed.

"You can see it; there was two treads that came and hit this the other day and almost hit one of our customers," said Hilltop Tavern Manager and Bartender Robert Spillman. "It's been a constant issue. Everybody that lives on this street has had their car messed up at least once."

Something Champagnery employee Raekwon Steele knows all too well.

"A lot of cars just come flying through, man, and they just hit our cars," he said. "I haven't even repaired my window yet because I know it's going to be hit again, man, so pretty often."

Public Works said whatever they end up deciding to do, they will need a minimum of six months for the new traffic patterns to normalize.

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