Toonerville Trolley Neighborhood Association

April 21, 2005 - Meeting Minutes

Apr 28, 2005

The Property Improvement Committee (PIC) had a special meeting to inform all residents of Old Louisville about the KY Department of Transportation (KYDOT) Traffic Study to improve traffic flow and safety along the I-65 corridor between the Fairgrounds and St Catherine St.

Because of the importance of this topic to the TT neighborhood, the regularly scheduled TTNA meeting generally held at St Philip?¡?¦s Chapel was held at the Old Louisville Information Center instead.

Toonerville Trolley Neighborhood attendees: Jennifer and John Hamilton, Helga Ulrich, Kevin Kouba, Jo Ann Macy, Hugh Williams, Jonathon Lowe, Bill Alexander, Bill Walsh, Debra Richards, Mike Flynn, and Steve Zocklein

PIC chair, Herb Fink, convened the meeting at 7:05 pm. Mr. Fink introduced Mr. William Seymour of Gresham Smith and Partners, Engineering Consultants for the KYDOT, who presented a brief history of the study and a 15 minutes video presentation about the problems with the existing I-65 corridor between the Fairgrounds and St. Catherine St. and proposed modifications to entrance and exit ramps along this corridor. After the video, Mssrs. Seymour, Taylor (Project Engineer), Robinson (Highway Designer), and Koubac (Highway Designer), and Anderson (Chair, OL Neighborhood Committee) entertained questions from the audience.

Project Objectives are to:
?„P Organize and simplify traffic flow along the I-65 corridor between Crittenden and St. Catherine Streets.
?„P Improve access to I-65 and major venues in the area, such as Churchill Downs, the Fairgrounds, and UofL
?„P Respect current and planned neighborhood traffic plans
?„P Secure funding

Improvements to I-65 itself were not a part of the plan and are not a part of the KYDOT 6-year plan.

Three plans have been proposed and maps of these plans will be on display at the OL Information Center in Central Park for those interested that were not able to attend the meeting.

In general, 6 of the current ramps will be closed. Significant changes will be made to the remaining ramps to improve acceleration and deceleration lanes and weaving patterns along I-65. The I-65 north Woodbine Exit will be closed. The associated I-65 N Preston Street entrance ramp will be completely changed. The I-65 N Jackson Street exit remains, but will be revamped. The I-65 S Floyd/Magnolia entrance ramp remains open. The I-65 S Arthur Street exit remains, but will get completely revamped. There will be only 1 exit point off of the Arthur Street ramp. You will no longer be able to turn onto any of the cross streets from Arthur Street until you get up by UofL. The I-65 N Eastern Parkway West exit will become the Warnock exit and undergo significant changes to improve traffic flow to UofL and for entering I-65 N. The I-65 N Crittenden entrance remains but is lengthened to provide better acceleration for oncoming traffic and the I-65 N Crittenden exit will be changed to provide better access to Central Ave. Although changes in ramps around Old Louisville will increase traffic flow at the St Catherine St exits, improvements to these exits are not part of the current plan.

It does not appear that any of the proposed changes will significantly change traffic flow within the TTNA boundaries. Several of the attendees expressed concern about truck traffic in Old Louisville. The proposed changes do not address this issue, but the intent of the plan was to be impact neutral to OL and not to interfere with any plans that the city or Old Louisville may be working on to reduce truck traffic through Old Louisville.

At this point, there is no state funding budgeted to begin the work.

After the PIC meeting, there was brief meeting of the TTNA officers.

Jennifer Hamilton and Jo Ann Macy have been compiling a property owner database for properties within the TTNA boundaries. Property owners and their mailing addresses for the 1300 Block of Floyd, 1400 Block of Brook, and the 1200 Block of First Streets (the blocks that TTNA is focusing on for the Spring Cleanup) have been identified and the property owner letters will be mailed on April 25. There are 158 properties within these 3 blocks. Postage costs will be $58.48. The officers unanimously approved this expenditure.

The TTNA meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Submitted by: Jo Ann Macy