While a proposal to widen Chenoweth Lane to three lanes is officially off the table, there’s still a push for change along the St. Matthews thoroughfare. Those changes could include adding sidewalks, bicycle facilities, turning lanes at intersections, and drainage work.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has scheduled its next public meeting on the project for Monday, February 29 from 5:00 to 7:00p.m. at the Broadway Baptist Church, 4000 Brownsboro Road.
The meeting site highlights the larger mobility problems in the area. Broadway Baptist Church sits on a busy stretch of four-lane arterial street with no sidewalks. There are two TARC bus stops out front, marked only with slender metal poles. Brownsboro Road is dangerous by design.
TARC Route 15 stops on each side of the street in front of the church, but if you’re taking the Market Street–bound TARC, you’ll have to dash across four lanes of arterial street with no crosswalk—a dangerous move for even an agile adult. If you didn’t want to cross here, you’d have to walk over 2,000 feet in a drainage ditch to Chenoweth Lane and back to get to the nearest crosswalk. Please be careful if you go.
“This meeting is to get input from the public on potential changes to Chenoweth Lane between Shelbyville Road and Brownsboro Road,” District 9 Councilman Bill Hollander wrote in an announcement. “Representatives from the KY Transportation Cabinet and their consultants will be available to answer questions.”
Hollander was among the supporters of removing the three-lane redesign from the table.
“We are currently in the process of discussing potential ‘Improvement Alternatives’,” wrote Judi Hickerson of KYCT’s District 5 office in a letter to a constituent. She added that the KYTC’s project team has been finalizing alternatives including “sidewalks, bike lanes, a shared use path, drainage improvements, turn lanes, increased traffic capacity, etc.” and that the group will present their findings at the meeting.
Even though the overall widening is off the table, it’s very important that you show up to express support for quality street design in Louisville. There’s still plenty of room to improve or cause harm to the design of Chenoweth Lane.
If you cannot attend the meeting, you can still submit a comment to the KYTC District Five Office, Attn: Judi Hickerson, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, 8310 Westport Road, Louisville, KY 40242.
Read more about the ongoing plans for Chenoweth Lane here.
Chenoweth Lane is not a good road for cycling. St. Matthews Ave. is a much better option even with the Stop signs.
Chenoweth is awful for cyclists. I rarely ride on it in over 20 years.
Please let the Transportation Cabinet know about how inappropriate Chenoweth Lane is for cyclists.