Louisville small business owners looking forward to benefits of 2-way conversion to Shelby, Logan streets

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will begin a project this week that will convert Logan and Shelby streets to two-ways, a long-planned effort to improve mobility and pedestrian safety through the corridor from Gray Street down to Goss Avenue.

KYTC said the project will "improve vehicular mobility and pedestrian safety throughout the corridor." The 1-mile stretch has 10 intersections with traffic signals, four of which will be replace with all-way stops. The other six intersections will be rebuilt, KYTC said.

Logan/Shelby Conversion — The 1-mile stretch has 10 intersections with traffic signals, four of which will be replace with all-way stops. The other six intersections will be rebuilt, KYTC said.

"The streets are very confusing," Sarah Height, a small business owner in the area, said Tuesday. "I mean, at the end of this street, you go head-on with another car, which is never comforting.

The project also calls for curb extensions along the corridor to reduce the length of pedestrian crossings and make pedestrians more visible to drivers.

"A group of folks from this area really wanted to get this street conversion to happen," Height said. "... mostly for safety, honestly, for convenience and also it helps small businesses."

The work will be done on a stretch that encompasses the Phoenix Hill, Smoketown and Shelby Park neighborhoods. Matt Filip, who owns Toasty's Tavern on South Shelby Street, looks at the $2.9 million project as a way to increase exposure for businesses in the area.

"Once we get everything sorted out, I think having a two-way will be beneficial to everyone on the street," Filip said Tuesday. "If you're doing the same path every sort of day, you might not even know we're here. But if you can go both ways, I just feel like that will open it up for more people to see that we are in the area."

Businesses will be open during the conversion, and owners know there may be some bumps in the road. But, in the end, it'll be worth a few months of inconvenience.

"We know it will be a little painful in the transition, but I think it is worth it," Height said. "I think it makes the neighborhood a lot more of a neighborhood than a cut-through."

Flynn Brothers Contracting, Inc., a Louisville company, was awarded the contract for the job. The work is expected to wrap up sometime this summer.