$12 million construction project in NuLu on Market Street begins

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Changes are coming to NuLu in Louisville.

The $12 million "NuLu Streetscape" project started on Monday. The focus will be about a 1-mile stretch of East Market Street from Brook Street to Baxter Avenue.

The city of Louisville and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet started the project on the north side of the 900 and 1000 blocks of Market Street and will work their way west. More city street lights will be added along with landscaped medians and enhanced crosswalks, all to increase safety.

"It is going to be better once they get everything squared away," said Kevin Blackburn, NuLu on Market assistant general manager. "It is going to be a tough transition going block by block. We are already short on parking as it is but hopefully they can make things work a little better."

Over the last two decades, as the NuLu area has become a restaurant, tourist and shopping hub, the stretch of East Market Street between 1st Street and its termination at the Home of the Innocents has remained largely the same. Six lanes of traffic and parking, most of them pointing east, make the corridor conducive for vehicles plowing through but imposing for pedestrians.

Plans developed almost a decade ago would repurpose a good chunk of Market Street for non-vehicular use. The sidewalk would be extended in places. Curbs would bump out at intersections to make the street-crossing distance shorter. A dedicated cycling path would meander just outside the sidewalk without risking collisions when people open car doors into the path. At least one driving lane would be eliminated, as would the suburban-style angled parking in the 800 block.

Trees and flower beds will be planted, including in a new median in the center of the street. Public art and street furniture like benches and tables will be installed to encourage outdoor interaction.

Many of the current larger trees on Market Street will have to be removed, but new trees will be planted during the construction process.

Parking during busy times in NuLu can come at a premium, but the streetscape project would actually reduce the number of parking spaces by 15 in order to add bike lanes and landscaped bump-outs.

The Louisville Metro Department of Public Works said businesses will be contacted 14 days before construction starts on their block, and people will still be able to get to those businesses.

The project was originally conceived in 2010 and was the talk of the neighborhood in 2013-2014 as renderings were shared and design plans were finalized. But the work never happened. Although East Market Street is a state road, Kentucky transportation dollars that were budgeted for the streetscape never actually came through, prompting Louisville Metro officials to find another way to pay for it.

In 2020, Metro government instead set aside $7.2 million in federal transportation block grant money for the project through the Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency, an agency overseen by county-level officials in greater Louisville and southern Indiana.

Metro taxpayers will pony up another $1.6 million, while the final $1.5 million for the project represents money was allocated years ago as part of the Ohio River Bridges Project, which was completed in 2016.

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