City planners will study NuLu, downtown Louisville in effort to improve safety and quality of life

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Metro Government awarded contracts to two companies tasked with studying the walkability of downtown and the nearby NuLu district.

The plans, Louisville Metro Public Works said in a news release Friday, will build off past planning efforts to obtain public feedback and improve safety and quality of life in the areas.

"Safer roads and connected neighborhoods are key components of our administration’s goal to create a safer, stronger, and healthier Louisville," Mayor Craig Greenberg said in a news release Friday. "We know that better neighborhood walkability across the U.S. is linked to improved health outcomes, increased physical fitness, and equitable access to businesses and we look forward to making those improvements in Downtown, NuLu, and across the city."

Louisville-based Stantec Consulting Services Inc. and Massachusetts-based Speck Dempsey will conduct the studies, public works said. Speck Dempsey — an internationally recognized city planning firm with clients around the country — will lead the effort.

NuLu Walkability Plan

The NuLu portion of the study will encompass a rectangular area within Jackson Street, Baxter Avenue, Washington Street and Jefferson Street. Public Works said Friday the NuLu plan is an effort to "improve safe and accessibly infrastructure in NuLu, and for parts of the Butchertown and Phoenix Hill neighborhoods."

That effort will look at the current state of streets and the history of prior accessibility work as well as gathering public feedback in the neighborhood.

Over the last two decades, as the NuLu area has become a restaurant, tourist and shopping hub, not much has changed. Six lanes of traffic and parking, most of them pointing east, make the corridor conducive for vehicles, but it is not pedestrian-friendly.

Earlier this year, the city began work on a year-long, $12 million streetscape project focused on a 1-mile stretch of East Market Street from Brook Street to Baxter Avenue in NuLu.

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.

Downtown Street Network Plan

The downtown plan, Public Works said, is similarly an effort to develop "safe and accessibly" roads, sidewalks and other infrastructure. However, there will be a focus downtown on "recommendations for conversions of one-way to two-way streets.

The area under focus will be an area bordered by the Ohio River, Jackson Street, Broadway and 10th Street.

Several of those one-way conversions are already underway. Earlier this year, the Kentucky Department of Transportation showed off plans that will transform the road leading to Whiskey Row, Main Street. The project, called "Main Remade," will convert the street from one-way to two-way between Wenzel Street in NuLu to 2nd Street, right near the bridge.

It's part of Vision Zero Louisville, an initiative aimed at driving the number of traffic deaths to zero in the next 30 years. Converting streets to two-ways is designed to slow drivers down and improve walkability. In past projects, officials said these conversions help businesses on both sides of the road because you get curious traffic coming in both directions.

Public Works said $325,000 has been allocated for the studies.

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