LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Louisville projects stand to receive more than $332 million in the two-year transportation spending plan that advanced in the Kentucky General Assembly on Tuesday.
The money includes an extra $10 million for a major widening of the Watterson Expressway between Westport Road and Interstate 71 and a new interchange at the Watterson and U.S. 42. Construction would start no earlier than 2024, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
State documents show that final plans are being developed, but the proposal generally calls for expanding the Watterson to three lanes in each direction and adding a two-lane ramp from the expressway to I-71 North. Two new westbound exit ramps would be built at Westport Road and U.S. 42.
Also envisioned is a single-point urban interchange at U.S. 42 that would replace the two existing traffic signals with one light meant to keep traffic flowing.
A public meeting was held on the planned changes in 2014. Lawmakers allocated $60 million for the project in 2020.
House Bill 242 also sets aside $250,000 to study traffic patterns at the Watterson and U.S. 42 near a new veterans hospital, which is expected to open in 2026.
In all, 48 Louisville projects are listed in the plan approved Tuesday in a House committee. They include:
- Smoketown and Shelby Park traffic calming: $3 million
- Plans call for converting one-way streets into two-way streets, adding pedestrian features and bump-outs for buses.
- Bardstown Road and Baxter Avenue intersection: $150,000
- The intersection would be reconstructed for pedestrian safety.
- Sherman Minton Renewal: $35.2 million
- The funds are part of Kentucky’s contribution to the joint project with Indiana to rehabilitate the I-64 bridge and nearby structures.
- Outer Loop safety: $2.18 million
- The design funds would be used in potential changes on Outer Loop between I-65 and Shepherdsville Road, including possibly adding an extra lane in each direction and weighing new features for cyclist and pedestrians.
- Manslick Road safety: $1.6 million
- A similar project calls for evaluating widening Manslick Road from St. Andrews Church Road to the Watterson Expressway and adding bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
Rep. Sal Santoro, R-Union, presented the bill in the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee on Tuesday morning. He told lawmakers that it also “addresses the three big projects in Kentucky”: a companion span to the Brent Spence Bridge between Covington and Cincinnati; expanding the Mountain Parkway in eastern Kentucky and a new Interstate 69 bridge between Henderson and Evansville, Indiana.
But Santoro, chairman of the House budget reviews subcommittee on transportation, cautioned that lawmakers are still waiting on guidance from the U.S. Department of Transportation on how Kentucky’s share of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds can be spent.
The House bill didn’t change any of the guardrail and bridge spending recommendations made by Gov. Andy Beshear’s transportation cabinet, Santoro said. Those programs include $7.5 million and more than $585 million, respectively, he said.
He said safety was the top priority in the road plan.
“Our second biggest factor in making priorities is economic development. For example, we need to make sure the project in Hardin County happens,” Santoro said. “The battery plant coming there is bringing in over 5,000 jobs with it.”
The road plan allocates more than $9 million to rebuild Ky. 1136, the main route through Glendale, where the Ford plant would be located.
The proposed $4.5 billion two-year spending plan that was approved by the full House on Tuesday and now heads to the Senate can be read here.
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