Thursday April 18, 2024
Local Connection
Weather
Traffic
@LouisvilleDispatch
@LouisvilleDisp
SubscribeDrivers traveling in Louisville and Southern Indiana need to prepare for the start of tolling on three Ohio River bridges. Tolling on the Louisville – Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project is scheduled to begin Friday, December 30.
Tolled bridges include the two I-65 bridges connecting Downtown Louisville and Southern Indiana, the new Abraham Lincoln Bridge and the improved John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge. The new East End bridge connecting the Gene Snyder Freeway in Prospect, Ky. with State Road 265 in Utica, Ind. will also be tolled.
RiverLink is the name of the new, all-electronic tolling system that makes the project possible. There’s no stopping, no slowing, no lines and no coin machines. Toll rates range from $2-$12, depending on the size of vehicle and whether the driver has a RiverLink account and transponder.
Drivers with transponders will pay the lowest toll rates. Drivers can set up a prepaid RiverLink account to get a transponder. All E-ZPass transponders, including the I-PASS from Illinois and the Indiana Toll Road E-ZPass, will work with the RiverLink system. No further action is necessary.
Drivers without transponders will get bills in the mail, and pay higher toll rates. Drivers who do not pay their tolls will be charged a penalty and may face restrictions on vehicle registration until tolls and penalties are paid.
Opening a RiverLink Account
Drivers can open a personal account online at www.RiverLink.com, by phone at 855-RIV-LINK or in person at one of two RiverLink customer service centers. A personal account can include up to four vehicles, with a minimum balance of $20 to open the account. The account balance rolls over month to month.
The fastest way to open a RiverLink personal account is online. The website is available 24 hours a day/7 days a week with no wait. Transponders will be mailed to account holders, free of charge.
For businesses with more than four vehicles, the fastest and easiest way to open an account is by calling a specialized customer service representative at 855-RIV-LINK.
Choice of Transponders
A RiverLink local transponder is free, one per registered vehicle. The small sticker adheres to the inside of windshield, is non-transferable and will work only on tolled bridges between Louisville and Southern Indiana.
A RiverLink E-ZPass transponder is $15 per transponder. It’s mounted on the inside of the windshield, is portable from vehicle to vehicle registered to a single account and works in all 16 E-ZPass states (https://e-zpassiag.com/about-e-zpass/where-can-i-use-it).
The I-64 (Sherman Minton) and the US 31/Second Street (Clark Memorial) bridges across the Ohio River will not be tolled in connection with the project. Find more information at www.RiverLink.com.
The Louisville – Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project includes two new bridges and their approaches, an improved Kennedy Bridge and reconstruction of the Kennedy Interchange, where I-65, I-64 and I-71 come together in downtown Louisville. The new Abraham Lincoln Bridge carries six lanes of I-65 northbound traffic. The improved Kennedy Bridge carries six lanes of southbound traffic. The new East End bridge will connect the Gene Snyder Freeway in Prospect, Ky. with State Road 265 (Lee Hamilton Highway) in Utica, Ind.
Find more details on the Ohio River Bridges Project at www.kyinbridges.com.
Nominations of 14 sites to the National Register of Historical Places, and a research project documenting a new statewide context to evaluate future submissions, were recommended for approval by the Kentucky Historic Preservation Review Board during a meeting Monday in Frankfort. Approved submissions will now be forwarded to the National Park Service (NPS) for final determination of eligibility, a process that generally takes 60 to 90 days.
The review board is charged with evaluating National Register nominations from Kentucky prior to their submission to NPS. The Kentucky Heritage Council/State Historic Preservation Office (KHC) administers the National Register program in Kentucky and provides administrative support to the board.
Nominations approved Monday are Columbia Commercial District; the Bold House, Foster; Doyle Country Club, near Dayton; the V.W. Bush Warehouse/Sphar Building, Winchester; Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church, Haury Motor Company Garage and Whiskey Row Historic District (additional documentation), Metro Louisville; Waveland, near Nicholasville; the Kentucky Hydroelectric Project, Grand Rivers; Paducah City Hall; Rowan County Courthouse; the Scearce-Roush House, Simpsonville; the J.D. Dodson House, Bowling Green; and Old Taylor Historic District, Millville. (See photos, l-r, above.)
Additionally, a research project establishing a historic context for evaluating future National Register submissions within the “Kentucky LGBTQ Historic Context Narrative” will be submitted for approval.
Listings that have been added to the National Register from Kentucky since the last review board meeting in May are Harlan Hubbard Studio, Fort Thomas; Edgewood, Fayette County; New Castle Historic District; Shawnee Steam Plant, Paducah; Johnson’s Landing House & Farm, and Woodland, Oldham County; Elks Athletic Club (additional documentation), Wood F. Afton Hall at Simmons University, E.L. Hughes Company Building and Seventh Street School, Metro Louisville; the Jonathan Bush House, and Jonathan Bush Mill, along Lower Howard’s Creek near Winchester; and a Multiple Property Nomination for “Kentucky State Tuberculosis Hospitals, 1946-1950” along with individual nominations for the London and Madisonville tuberculosis hospitals.
The National Register is the nation’s official list of historic and archaeological resources deemed worthy of preservation. Kentucky has the fourth-highest number of listings among states, with more than 3,400. Listing can be applied to buildings, objects, structures, districts and archaeological sites, and proposed sites must be significant in architecture, engineering, American history or culture.
Owners of National Register properties may qualify for state and/or federal tax credits for rehabilitation of these properties to standards set forth by the Secretary of the Interior, as certified by the Kentucky Heritage Council, or for making a charitable contribution of a preservation easement. National Register status does not affect property ownership rights, but does provide a measure of protection against adverse impacts from federally funded projects.
A meeting agenda and detailed nominations with high-resolution photos of all the proposed and recently listed sites are available at www.heritage.ky.gov/natreg/. The next review board meeting will take place in May 2017.
Switch to goky.ky.gov will save taxpayers up to $750,000 annually
Motorists traveling throughout Kentucky can now navigate the highways and by-ways of the Bluegrass with a modernized tool. Goky.ky.gov, an online traffic and roadway information portal, has replaced the traditional 511 travel and weather phone system.
The improved, user-friendly platform provides travelers access to reliable, up-to-date information regarding traffic conditions, construction activity, and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) response to weather-related events. The new GoKY website includes reports from KYTC as well as from Waze – a real-time traffic reporting application based on crowdsourced information.
“After almost two decades of 511 use, today’s travelers are bypassing the dated phone line for visual, on-demand road and weather conditions,” said Sec. Greg Thomas. “Goky.ky.gov is the perfect solution to satisfy the needs of the traveling public while stewarding state dollars. Our Cabinet employees and partners have worked diligently to deliver a platform that tells the public what they want to know before hitting the road.”
Now, motorists who dial 511 will hear a brief phone message informing them of the change. To request Safety Assistance for Freeway Emergencies (SAFE) Patrol in cases of vehicle breakdown or to report incidents, motorists will be directed to call 877-FOR-KYTC. In addition, the former 511 smart phone application will no longer be offered or operational. The text and email alert feature has also been discontinued.
To provide travelers with a mobile option, KYTC encourages motorists to download the free Waze application. Since 2014, the Cabinet has participated in a public-private partnership with Waze CCP (Connected Citizens Program). Both entities provide a free exchange of real-time data every two minutes, giving drivers a clearer understanding of roadway events. The app provides turn-by-turn navigation as well as traffic reporting.
“Helping drivers have a better experience on Kentucky roads is important but not at the expense of safety. We advise drivers to use GoKY to plan ahead before they drive. To avoid distracted driving, ask your passenger to report delays and incidents using Waze,” said Dr. Noelle Hunter, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety.
Over the last two years, call volume to 511 has dropped by nearly 40 percent. This drastic decline prompted Cabinet officials to evaluate the hotline’s effectiveness. Phasing out the phone system will save taxpayers up to $750,000 annually.
In addition, the 511 phase-out shifts all data management to in-house Cabinet staff, which eliminates the need for contractor services. Using existing enterprise infrastructure technologies, Cabinet engineers will now be able to save, capture and process data for future planning and highway safety purposes, a function not available with the old 511 mapping and phone system.
When 511 was conceptualized, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) recommended that the three-digit number serve as the single travel information hotline, which eliminated the need for multiple phone numbers. States are not federally required to implement 511; however, Kentucky chose to adopt 511 in 2000 after the Kentucky Public Service Commission permanently assigned the number.
Motorists can access travel and traffic conditions at http://goky.ky.gov or contribute their own reports at http://www.waze.com or via the Waze mobile application. Follow us on Twitter @KYTCGoKY.
Sustainability Week at the University of Louisville is Oct. 17-23 to raise awareness for responsible environmental, social and economic stewardship. This year’s focus is social justice.
The week, which coincides with homecoming festivities, begins Oct. 17 with “Weigh the Waste” at The Ville Grill, when plate scraps from a typical lunchtime in UofL’s busiest dining hall will be weighed before going into the compost bin to demonstrate how much food is discarded.
Oct. 19, a Campus Sustainability Day Fair featuring booths and information on UofL’s sustainability initiatives will be held in the Humanities Quad on Belknap Campus.
On the evening of Oct. 19, UofL will host the Louisville Sustainability Council’s monthly “Green Drinks” networking event for professionals interested in sustainability. The event will start at 6 p.m. with a campus sustainability tour leaving from in front of the University Club and end at Old Louisville Tavern, 1532 S. 4th St.
The week’s activities include:
- Oct. 18, noon – Diversity Dialogue Series: “Equity vs. Equality” (Cultural Center)
- Oct. 18, 6:30-8 p.m. – Race, Place and Perceptions: Making Louisville Home for Us All (Cultural Center)
- Oct. 18 (Health Sciences Campus, Kornhauser Plaza) and Oct. 20 (Belknap Campus, Humanities Quad) – Bike maintenance workshops
- Oct. 21, noon – EcoReps Lunch&Learn, “Sustainability at UofL,” Ekstrom Library, W210.
- Oct. 21, 2-3 p.m. – Garlic Planting Day! Garden Commons Workshop and Workday (Cultural Center)
- Oct. 23 –UofL Community Composting Volunteer Day, 200 block of E. Bloom St. (one block north of Cardinal Boulevard between Brook and Floyd streets)
For more information, contact Justin Mog, assistant to the provost for sustainability initiatives, at 502-852-8575.
Business investments growing, strengthening corridor
More than $50 million in transportation improvements under way and planned over the next two years will create a New Dixie Highway and fuel transformation of a major economic corridor for southwest and west Louisville, Mayor Greg Fischer announced today.
The New Dixie Highway, the first major construction project under the Mayor’s MOVE Louisville initiative, will include safety design enhancements, signal improvements, sidewalks, crosswalks and resurfaced lanes.
The city’s busiest transit corridor will also get the region’s first “bus rapid transit” line, including distinctive TARC buses and high-visibility shelters to help move thousands of people daily and better define the 14-mile corridor.
“The New Dixie Highway project is the largest concentrated investment in Louisville’s transportation network since we began the Ohio River Bridges Project,” Fischer said. “Over the next several years, we will create a new Dixie Highway that’s safer for everyone, more efficient for motorists, more reliable for transit users and more enticing for business owners, consumers and investors.”
Fischer, Congressman John Yarmuth, Metro Council members and other leaders provided the New Dixie Highway update at the soon-to-be-completed Kroger Marketplace, a $23 million grocery and retail superstore at 4915 Dixie Highway. The location is appropriate, Fischer said, because the project builds on the renaissance already under way on the corridor, with tens of millions of dollars in private investments in new restaurants, retail businesses and other developments.
Safety improvements will include new signal technology throughout the corridor, and median enhancements, dedicated turn lanes and defined crosswalks concentrated in the Crums Lane to Greenwood Road segment. Future phases will address other segments of the road.
Fischer thanked state legislators and Metro Council members for their commitment to improving safety and mobility along Dixie Highway, noting that without their work to secure state and local matching funds, the city would not have been able to leverage the federal grant to jump-start the project. Continue reading
70-mile section of the Natcher Parkway to eventually become an interstate spur
Gov. Matt Bevin and U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie today announced plans to designate a 70-mile section of the William H. Natcher Parkway from Bowling Green to Owensboro as the “Future Interstate 65 Spur.”
The partnership between federal and state officials to upgrade the Natcher Parkway to an interstate spur was forged during a sign unveiling ceremony at the Owensboro Riverport this afternoon.
“Today, we stand firm behind our commitment of unlocking the infinite economic potential that this spur will have. Not only will it attract key investors to Western Kentucky, but it will improve the commute for motorists across the region,” said Gov. Bevin. “From its inception, Congressman Guthrie has championed this project each step of the way. I applaud his diligent efforts as well as our federal and state partners to help secure the necessary funding to begin the process.”
The designation of an interstate spur elevates the prominence of a highway into a federally-recognized corridor. In turn, businesses and other entities look to locate along a major federal thoroughfare. In addition, upgrading the parkway to interstate standards enhances the safety and mobility of the route.
“Nearly two years ago I joined state and local leaders to discuss a path forward for the Natcher Parkway and the designation as a future I-65 spur was a top priority for me in the latest highway bill. I am pleased to see that today we are one step closer to making this designation a reality and I look forward to the opportunities that it will create for Western Kentucky,” said U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, of Bowling Green.
On Aug. 2, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) approved the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) plan to designate the Natcher Parkway as a future interstate spur. A future agreement between FHWA and KYTC will identify and outline the requirements needed to upgrade the parkway to interstate standards.
The work will include upgrading bridge rails and guardrails; improving exit and entrance ramps; constructing new and/or modifying existing interchanges; and raising some overpass bridges to increase vertical clearance. Continue reading
Halfway through the year, The Parklands of Floyds Fork has exceeded one million visits, putting the donor-supported, public park well on its way to surpassing the 1.8 million visitors initially expected by the end of 2016. This is a major milestone for the ambitious project, which opened its first amenity only five years ago.
“With all four parks now open and additional amenities under construction, 2016 is set to be a landmark year for The Parklands,” said Park Director Scott Martin. “Every day, more people are discovering The Parklands and all it offers the Metro Louisville region.”
Since opening Marshall Playground & Sprayground in 2011, The Parklands has seen tremendous growth in size and interest. In May alone, The Parklands received nearly 300,000 visits—almost double the number from May of 2015. This increasing visitation of the park is due in no small part to the recent opening of Broad Run Park on April 15 of this year and Turkey Run Park in October of 2015.
In order to keep up with the parks’ rapidly growing popularity, The Parklands expanded its team to help operate the nearly 4,000-acre park system. Since opening Turkey Run Park last fall, 21st Century Parks has hired 26 part-time staff and 5 full-time staff to support the expanding system.
Each member of staff is committed to providing a world-class experience to visitors, and with the spike in visitation, The Parklands is asking visitors to do their part.
“We are thrilled to see so many people enjoying the parks and developing a love for the outdoors,” Martin said. “With this increased visitation, we ask park guests to remain courteous and respectful to those around them, and to take precautions to ensure safe and fun experiences on our trails, waterways, playgrounds and other areas.” Continue reading
