[glcb] Support the Brownsboro Rd. Sidewalk! 1/25/12 Meeting!

[carla ruschival]

 ---- Original Message ------
From: Cassandra Culin <kyspring at bellsouth.net
Subject: Support the Brownsboro Rd.  Sidewalk!  1/25/12 Meeting!
Date sent: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:51:12 -0500

To all Lovers of Walkable Neighborhoods (my apologies if you 
receive this
more than once),

The Brownsboro Sidewalk and Road Diet will be on the agenda of 
the Ninth
District Forum.  Please come out and show the naysayers that 
there is broad
support for this important project!  While you are there thank 
Ninth
District Metro Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh for her continuing 
support.


 Wednesday, January 25, 2012

 Kentucky School for the Blind, Auditorium

 867 Frankfort Avenue

 6:00 PM - Forum with Guest Speakers

 7:00 PM - Question & Answers

* Imagine that you live in an apartment complex in Clifton 
Heights (a friend
from China) on a cliff that overlooks a Kroger store, but you 
can't cross
the four lanes of speeding traffic at the stoplight at the bottom 
of the
cliff because THERE IS NO SIDEWALK on your side of the street.
* Imagine that you are an 89 year old woman who lives in Clifton 
(my mother)
who wants to walk to have her hair cut on a beautiful afternoon, 
but you
cannot cross the four lanes of speeding traffic at the light at 
the bottom
of the hill because THERE IS NO SIDEWALK on the other side of the 
street.
* Imagine that you are a woman with very low vision who lives in 
Clifton (a
neighbor) taking a different route for her errands.  You ask at 
Kroger if
you can cross at the light at the corner to the businesses across 
the
street.  Someone (mistakenly) tells you yes, but when you cross 
the four
lane road, THERE IS NO SIDEWALK on the other side.  Fortunately 
traffic
stops long enough for you to make your way back.

These walkers and countless more, have to travel at least 1/2 mi 
out of
their way to cross at a light, because THERE IS NO SIDEWALK at 
the nearest
traffic light.

The Clifton and Clifton Heights Community Councils have been 
working for
over 12 years (the blind community for over 30) to get sidewalks 
completed
on the north side of Brownsboro Avenue at Clifton Avenue (across 
from
Kroger) between Ewing and Lindsay.  Both neighborhoods are 
densely populated
and close to downtown.  The problem is that the cliff on the 
north side of
Brownsboro comes straight down to the curb.

Our neighborhoods and Louisville officials explored several 
options:
1.  rejected: cut into the cliff.  After much study, the old City 
decided
that this would be too risky, considering the apartment complex 
sitting on
top of the cliff.
2.  rejected: move the road south to make room for the sidewalk.  
Besides
being extremely expensive, entailing moving utility poles and 
sewers, there
is not enough public right of way on the south side to 
accommodate the move.
Metro decided not to pursue this option.
3.  current project: make Brownsboro Road a 3-lane road: middle 
turn lane
with a traveling lane on each side.  Engineering studies showed 
Brownsboro
Road to be well within the volume for which this is a successful
configuration.  The northernmost lane would be used to build the 
sidewalk.

The Brownsboro Sidewalk and Diet Project was fully funded in 
2009, with
construction projected for the spring.  However, Metro capital 
budgets were
cut and the project was put on hold.  It then spent time on the 
economic
stimulus funding list.  Then it was deemed not to be "shovel 
ready" and was
placed on the Kentuckiana Regional Planning & Development Agency 
(KIPDA)
Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP).  Finally, after many stops 
up and
down the bureaucratic line between KIPDA, Metro and the Kentucky
Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), a contractor was selected last 
fall.
Construction is now projected for this spring, 2012.

For a photograph and more background information see:
http://cartky.org/brownsboro-action

Come out to the meeting or email Metro Councilwoman Tina 
Ward-Pugh (
Tina.Ward-Pugh at louisvilleky.gov  ) if you can!

We appreciate your support.

Cassandra

Cassandra Culin, Clifton Chair
Neighborhood Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Committee
A Joint Committee of the Clifton, Clifton Heights, and Crescent 
Hill
Community Councils
185 N.  Bellaire Ave.
Louisville, KY  40206
502-895-5727; fax 502-896-9760; cell 502-594-4405
kyspring at bellsouth.net