LOUISVILLE, Ky. — I-64 in downtown Louisville was listed as one of the 10 freeways without a future in the United States this year, a new report from the Congress for the New Urbanism said.
The organization focused on creating walkable neighborhoods called the elevated section of I-64 between 22nd Street and Clark Memorial Bridge a barrier between the city and its waterfront, bringing down property value and blocking Louisville landmarks.
The report revisited a campaign started by citizen group 8664 in 2005 that proposed a four-lane parkway between I-65 and I-264 filled with pedestrian crossings and a green median. The parkway would better show off Louisville landmarks like the Muhammad Ali Center and KFC Yum! Center while also allowing people to enjoy the waterfront.
According to the report, 8664's proposal also met demands for traffic, saying through-traffic would be re-routed to I-265 while the four-way parkway would be able to accommodate the 80,000 cars per day that use I-64 for local destinations.
The proposal was originally created in response to the Ohio River Bridges project, a $2.6 billion construction project Indiana and Kentucky went through with despite petitions. According to the report, traffic on the Kennedy Memorial Bridge has decreased 49 percent since it reopened in 2016 because drivers wanted to avoid tolls. Still, the bridges do not affect the area of I-64 the group wanted to change, keeping it a "prime candidate for removal," report said.
