LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A federal grant announced Monday will help bring a type of fast-moving bus system to Louisville, speeding riders from southwestern Jefferson County to downtown.
The bulk of the $16.9 million approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation will go towards creating a TARC “bus rapid transit” line to be running by mid-2018.
It would cover about 15 miles – from Dixie Highway at the Gene Snyder Freeway to the KFC Yum! Center – and could involve dedicated bus lanes, new shelters and upgraded buses, according to Metro government’s grant application. Barry Barker, TARC’s executive director, said it’s too early to discuss specific details.
“There’s been a lot of discussion to date,” Barker said. “Now the work begins in earnest.”
The grant funds the federal portion of a larger $28.9 million plan for the Dixie Highway corridor already underway. Kentucky state government has approved more than $11 million for improvements on Dixie from Crums Lane to Greenwood Road – all part of making the corridor safer for pedestrians and drivers.
The state-funded work includes building new medians; set-back and filled-in sidewalks and brighter lighting; and raised pedestrian islands with crosswalks. Dixie Highway, which widens to six lanes at some points, has had an uneven share of pedestrian deaths in recent years.
The faster bus service funded by the grant announced Monday is expected to cost $11.9 million; the city would contribute $120,000.
The city’s grant application envisions 36 “enhanced stops” costing $3.6 million. Barker said officials haven’t yet determined the features at those stops, but they could include an electronic ticket-buying kiosk, for example.
“The notion is going to be to enable people to get on and off the bus quickly, and to get the bus back on its way,” he said.
About $4 million of the grant would be spent on upgraded buses and $2.4 million on bus-related infrastructure, such as lanes for buses only.
Barker said “a portion” of the new line would be dedicated for buses, but emphasized that the full 15 miles won’t be exclusively for transit.
Some elements could include a turning lane that allows buses to get an early jump on a green light, moving from behind a group of cars to the front, Barker said.
About $5 million will be set aside for upgrading traffic signals at intersections and replacing some pedestrian signals.
Barker said the bus rapid transit would complement TARC’s Route 18, which will remain a local line.
Taken together, the work on Dixie will increase the “economic competitiveness of southwest Louisville,” city officials argued in their grant application. More than half of the households in the corridor have either one or no car, falling below the regional average, according to city data.
U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District, said in a press release that the federal funds will help make the Dixie area “a national model of regional commercial and multi-modal integration.”
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said in a prepared statement that the larger project will make the road safer.
“It will also make the commercial stretch more attractive and improve public transit along one of our city’s most important thoroughfares,” he said.
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