LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Two sections of Cherokee Park are now open to traffic after being closed for more than a year.
Monday marks the first time since April 2020 that vehicles can drive through Cherokee Park. The lanes have been re-marked and new signage is up. Instead of walking up a hill to get to places like Hogan's Fountain, visitors can drive there.
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The city of Louisville closed the loops in Cherokee and Iroquois Parks when the pandemic hit to try and cut down on crowds gathering and spreading COVID.
Cars can now access two sections of Cherokee after crews pulled the barricades down Monday morning: vehicles can now enter at Eastern Parkway and Cherokee Road, then exit at Barret Hill Road or Dingle Road.
Traffic can also drive on the other side of the park, near Rugby Field and Cochran Hill Road.
Everywhere else is still closed to traffic.
The reopening is something some visitors of the park are happy to see again.
Jimmy Cebe, a frequent visitor of Cherokee Park
"I've been waiting a long time, and I'm aggravated with the idea of not letting people that want to picnic come in here with a vehicle so they can get their coolers and lawn chairs and things of that nature and so they can picnic, which I've been doing all my life," said Jimmy Cebe, a frequent visitor of the park.
But other visitors have mixed emotions.
Judith Mohay, a frequent visitor of Cherokee Park
"It's about 50-50 for me," said Judith Mohay, another visitor of the park. "I enjoy not to have cars around, you know? But I understand that people have to go sometime, you know, walking their dogs. Some people are disabled or unable to walk up there, so they would need their car."
Louisville's Parks and Recreation says even though surveys showed parkgoers enjoyed the car-free park, there were issues of accessibility and equity.
Later this summer, officials will evaluate the reopening of the roads to decide the future of the other sections in the park.
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