Multi family housing from Walk the Line (100) (Courtesy IHNA)

We’re big fans of design competitions here at Broken Sidewalk and Irish Hill’s Mediative Urbanisms competition last year has generated some of the most creative ideas for an infill brownfield site in recent memory.  I’m going to take a closer look at a few of the design proposals from several projects here, but I really recommend checking out the entire exhibit of all 20 entries from around the world at the Urban Design Studio on 3rd Street.  Your last chance to see it in person is this Friday at the Trolley Hop, so mark it on your calendar now.

Click through to discuss some of the ideas proposed from Mediative Urbanisms.

Monorail at the center median of Interstate 64 (Courtesy Scott Ritcher)

[ Editor's Note:  Thanks to Scott Ritcher for allowing the reprint of his monorail proposal developed in 1998 as part of a mayoral campaign.  Scott was born and raised in Louisville and is currently living in Stockholm, Sweden where he is reportedly enjoying an extensive transit system.  Last summer, he also wrote two articles comparing Sweeden's traffic problems and Louisville's 8664 campaign.  Check those out here and here. ]

Louisville’s rapid transit dilemma

By now, we’ve all agreed that Louisville needs to invest in a long-term solution to its growing transportation problems.  So many people drive cars everywhere they go that we all carry the burden with clogged roadways and air pollution. 73% of Louisvillians drive to work alone in a car.  Only 8.5% of us take TARC.

We’ve heard a lot of talk about investing in a Light Rail system.  But I don’t think that’s the solution.  People in other cities with Light Rail systems have many of the same complaints about it that we have about our buses. It’s too slow.  It makes a lot of noise.  Its web of suspended electrical lines are dangerous and ugly.  It’s dated.

The problem with Light Rail

Light Rail is called that because it’s smaller than a full-scale train or an underground subway.  Louisville’s water table is too high for anything to be built underground, and we don’t have a passenger train station, so if we want to expand public transportation beyond our bus system, we have to build something new.  Obviously, we would want something better than buses.

Light Rail has been introduced as a solution because it seems like the logical next step.  It has all the look and feel of something you’d see in a big city, and it’s historically a part of Louisville that has vanished.

There are two ways Light Rail can be implemented.  In the first, the tracks are built into existing streets and the train is powered by suspended electrical wires.  This doesn’t solve any transportation problems because it introduces a new vehicle (the train) into the already cluttered flow of automobile traffic.  If you think Bardstown Road or Broadway are congested now, think what it would be like with a train running down the middle of the road!  In addition to the logistics of construction, a web of electricity must also be suspended above the road.  Ultimately, surface-based Light Rail is subject to the same limitations as a bus.  It’s basically just a louder, more expensive bus on that runs on rails.

The second way to implement Light Rail is by running the train on an elevated track, as it is in Chicago.  Aside from the fact that you have a huge iron structure that casts an even bigger shadow, can you even begin to imagine the cost of putting a train up in the air?  Trains weren’t meant for the sky.

Monorail on UL Belknap Campus (Courtesy Scott Ritcher)

Why is Monorail the solution?

Monorail systems offer something that Light Rail, buses, and subways can never touch: Profit.  Seattle’s Monorail opened in 1962 and is operated by a private company which actually pays the city $75,000 a year in return for the concession to operate it.  And the people of Seattle voted last year to expand it to a city-wide 40-mile route.  Tokyo’s Haneda Monorail is a privately-owned 8-mile dual-beam system which opened in 1964 and turns a profit every year.

Aren’t experimental vehicles expensive?  Monorails are hardly experimental, and they are extremely cost-effective.  One of the world’s earliest passenger Monorails at Wuppertal, Germany opened in 1902 and is still operating today.  Initial costs can be about the same or more than Light Rail, but the required purchasing of right-of-way is greatly reduced, because the track is only 26 inches wide.  And if it’s built and operated by a private company, the cost to the taxpayer is nothing.

Construction time and disruption of the local area are also reduced because Monorail beams can be prefabricated off-site and installed off of trucks.  The 1.2-mile Las Vegas Monorail was constructed in only seven months.

Perhaps the biggest advantages Monorails boast are in environmental and safety concerns.  Environmentally, Monorails are at the head of their class.  Because they are powered by electricity, pollution is a non-issue.  Monorails are pleasant to look at and extremely quiet as they run on rubber tires instead of steel rails. Monorails operate in an exclusive and completely safe area with no chance of interaction with automobile or pedestrian traffic.  They can arrive quickly and safely on time, with no risk of derailment or collision.

This is the answer to Louisville’s rapid transit dilemma.

Map of proposed monorail routes (Courtesy Scott Ritcher)

Information overload at Chestnut & Brook Streets (Courtesy SushiK)

[ Editor's Note:  Thanks again to guest contributor SushiK for putting together this look at street signs across Louisville showcasing the many tiny problems that can add up to information overload in our environment. ]

Sign Sign everywhere a sign 
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind 
Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign

As a person who gets around primarily by foot and bicycle, I am very aware of the nuances of my physical environment.  Traveling more slowly than I would by automobile or bus, I am more likely to notice the little details of the streetscape, such as signs.  I have recently begun to focus my attention on the large numbers of signs on our streets, and how interesting they can be.  Many signs have piqued my curiousity because they are puzzling, redundant, or ill-placed, and I find myself wondering about their history as well as their effectiveness as transmitters of information.

I am not an engineer, but I hang out with a few, and I know a bit about the policies that govern which signs are used and where they are placed.  The recently-updated Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), developed by the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) has a dizzying amount of information about signs.  The Manual has an unnervingly orderly view of the streetscape which is frequently not reflected in the crazy chaos of the real world.

As I have begun to notice signs more, I have had a lot of questions.  One of the top ones is: if I can barely process all these signs when walking and bicycling, do people in motor vehicles see them?

Well-known authority on bicycle and pedestrian issues Dan Burden, when speaking at last year’s Louisville Bike Summit II, stated that signs don’t help correct problematic traffic situations; they just make us feel better about them.  If that is true, then judging by the sheer numbers of signs on our streets, we should feel pretty good.

What do Broken Sidewalk readers think about signs?  Do you have ones you particularly like or dislike?  Do you think signs are an effective way to communicate information to street users?

A few examples from Louisville streets to illustrate after the click.

I like to think I am pretty observant when I am out walking through the city, but I totally failed the “Awareness Test” video up above.  How did you do?  Transport for London recently put these video advertisements out to draw attention to the “invisible cyclist” and experiments such as this show how easy it is to miss small details – like a cyclist.  More Awareness Tests available here.  (Hat tip to Open Culture)

My interest in this idea of awareness was piqued last year when I saw an article & video at Boing Boing (video after the click) describing a Harvard study on “Change Blindness” that demonstrated a shocking 75% of respondents didn’t notice a major change right in front of them.  You’ll just have to watch the video.

Both examples demonstrate how little of our visual environment our brain actually processes.   In the words of artist James Gurney, “Here’s proof that most of the time we look but don’t see.”

Click through for the change blindness video test.

Belle of Louisville (By Philip Groshong courtesy National Parks Service)

The Belle of Louisville has taken the top prize in the 10th Annual National Historic Landmark Photo Contest, beating out St. Louis’ Gateway Arch and a pueblo in Taos, NM.  Over 200 photos were submitted to the National Parks Service and the winners are featured in a 2010 event planner.  (If only that were Louisville’s skyline in the background!)  Pleasant Hill also was included as an honorable mention.  Here’s a bit of history from the National Parks Service:

“Belle of Louisville, launched in 1914 as Idlewild from Pittsburgh, is one of only two sternwheel river passenger boats operating under steam and is the sole remaining Western Rivers day packet boat. When she was built, the boat served primarily as a ferry. In later years, she served as a day packet carrying freight and passengers, an excursion boat carrying tourists, and a towboat during the Second World War. Today, the Belle of Louisville serves as an excursion steamboat on the Ohio River in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. With its canopied pilothouse, jaunty stacks, and sternwheel, the Belle of Louisville epitomizes the majestic riverboat era on America’s western waters.”

The Belle of Louisville is one beloved vessel and was the inspiration for a ragtime song written in 1990 by Frank French which has become a modern ragtime classic.  Much like the photo, it evokes the grand old days of Louisville’s riverboat era.  Click here if the video below doesn’t work.  I recommend turning on the video and staring at the photo for a few minutes.

The C-J recently had a story about turn signal usage in Louisville – or the lack thereof – in which I was quoted.  Not using a turn signal when driving is at best rude and at worst dangerous.  As the article points out, many in town aren’t happy with the lax regard for turn signal usage and the police are taking notice and issuing more tickets.  Here’s a snippet:

It happens all the time: You’re driving down Shelbyville Road, or Bardstown Road or any road and the driver in front of you suddenly applies the brakes, slows for no apparent reason, and then stays stopped in the middle of traffic until he or she can make a turn. All without signaling.

…

Alas, most Louisvillians would rather do anything while driving — text, eat dinner, apply makeup — than signal a turn. Is it part of what makes Louisville weird? A folksy habit rooted in small-town sensibilities? Or just the way it is? Either way it’s so rooted in local iconography that Louisville magazine once noted, in a list of 50 things to know about the Derby City: “If you expect Louisville drivers in front of you to signal a turn they intend to make — in advance, for your benefit — you picked the wrong town to live in.”

My thoughts on the matter view turn signal usage and distracted driving inherently linked.  Operating a vehicle requires a lot of attention and if one can’t pay enough attention to signal a turn, there may be too many distractions going on.  Check out the article while it’s still online.

Hogs being led to the Bourbon Stockyards on Market Street in 1943 (See credit below)

Okay, so the photo above technically isn’t within the official boundaries of Butchertown today, but during the days of the Bourbon Stockyards, East Market Street shared many similarities with Butchertown one block north.  Edna Kubala, who just finished her new book Louisville’s Butchertown, says livestock in the streets was once a common site in the area.

Louisville's Butchertown by Edna Kubala

Butchertown has been in the news quite a bit recently, but much of its history has been a mystery – until now.  Kubala’s book fills in the gaps revealing the secrets behind the neighborhood’s architecture, businesses, and people.  After reading through the book, due out next Monday, February 8th, and studying its more than 200 photos, I was left with a much deeper understanding for Butchertown as a neighborhood in transition.

Walking along Story Avenue today, it’s easy to notice that much of the built environment isn’t original.  Louisville’s Butchertown reveals the lost architecture of the neighborhood such as the grand Oertel’s Brewery and documents the changing face of neighborhood businesses like Edinger’s who once crafted wagons and now manufactures truck beds on Main Street.

Louisville’s Butchertown, published by Arcadia Publishing, costs $21.99 and will be available at local retailers, online bookstores, or through Arcadia Publishing at 888.313.2665.  Edna Kubala is also offering a chance to win a $25 Louisville Originals gift card if you pre-order the book (more details here).  She will be participating in several book signings in upcoming weeks (details after the click.)

Ice warehouse on Main & Hancock before a devastating fire (See credit below)

The book is arranged as a pictorial tour with detailed descriptions narrating the journey.  While Butchertown’s heritage as a neighborhood of butchers is emphasized, Louisville’s Butchertown delves deeper to understand the tight-knit neighborhood that’s always been at the heart of the area.  Kubala also dedicates a chapter to the legacy of flooding in the neighborhood with many photos unseen until now.

Edna Kubala moved to Butchertown two years ago knowing little of the neighborhood’s history.  She was amazed to learn just how old the neighborhood really was – much older than Old Louisville where Kubala lived in college.  She set about interviewing long-time residents and businesses and looking into forgotten archives to record the neighborhoods history before it was lost.

While researching and conducting interviews, Kubala recounts how much she enjoyed talking with neighbors about their memories of Butchertown.  One of her favorite stories involved a herd of cows on Washington Street.  Long ago, one resident’s mother wearing a red scarf accidentally provoked the herd sending them stampeding in her direction.  She ran to safety but swore never to wear red again in her life.

Photographs and stories recounted in Louisville’s Butchertown may be centered around a single neighborhood, but their influence spans all of Louisville.  Butchertown helped shape the city and its long history is closely intertwined with all of Louisville.  Be sure to check out the book next Monday or pre-order your copy from Edna Kubala’s web site to dig even deeper into the history of Butchertown.

Young's Place at Story Ave. & Cabel Street in 1937 flood (see credit below)

[ All photos reprinted with permission from Louisville’s Butchertown, by Edna Kubala.  Available from the publisher online at www.arcadiapublishing.com or by calling 888-313-2665. ]

Click through for book signing events.

Planned Changes to Breland Realtors building (courtesy Breland Realtors, Google)

Located just south of Taylorsville Road, a small house turned commercial building is ready for expansion.  Breland Group Realtors plans to nearly double the frontage of the structure at 2616 Bardstown Road, filling in a parking lot, and apply a new seamless facade to the entire property.

Breland Group owns two adjacent lots to the north of the existing structure, currently a parking lot and a grassy field.  The new structure will fill the parking lot and a driveway to reach the back of the property will be moved to the grass lot.  In all, 2,300 square feet of new space is planned including 1,000 square feet of retail space to house Access Technologies.

Additionally, the original structure will be completely renovated and when complete, the project will feature offices, a conference room, and a two-car garage around back.  Individual offices ranging from 140 to 210 square feet could be leased to individual real estate agents as needed.

Financing is already underway and construction could be imminent.  Breland expects to close on primary financing this week and received a facade loan from Metro Louisville last week.  Construction could begin in around 30 days and would take about 6 months to complete.

Lamont Breland says he wanted a new facade that reflects the traditional storefronts of the Highlands.  He took photos of several existing structures he admired on Bardstown Road and worked with Joseph & Joseph Architects to craft the new facade.

The structure was once the Le Normandy restaurant and Lamont says people drop by to share memories.  There’s still a dumbwaiter that once raised food from the basement kitchen to the main floor dining room.  Back then, the building was a true live-work space with the family who owned the place living upstairs.

Overall, this is the kind of contextual project that helps to push the Bardstown Road streetscape south while referring to the simple vernacular commercial style of the area.  And it should be quite an improvement over existing facade.

Click through for current conditions.