Jeffersonville has the nicest floodwalls in the Louisville region. Over the last five years, artists have painted elaborately detailed murals depicting the history of Jeffersonville as a river town along a stretch of wall beneath the Second Street / Clark Bridge. There’s only one problem: the mural is often not visible because its behind a parking lot.
The News & Tribune reported recently that Jeffersonville is attempting to fix the problem by installing a sidewalk along the floodwall at a loss of only one or two parking spaces:
The idea is to allow pedestrians and those visiting nearby restaurants to look at the murals on the floodwalls without parked cars blocking the vista, said Jim Keith, executive director of the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau. The buffer zone would be about 5 feet wide, include grass and sidewalks and would have plaques and lighting for each of the murals.
While any pedestrian accommodation is certainly welcomed for viewing the beautiful murals, a five-foot-wide right of way seems narrow if it will also include grass and lighting. I suppose that leaves about three feet of actual sidewalk. For now, that’s an improvement, but imagine Jeffersonville between the bridges as a more urban and truly walkable part of the community.
The area has certainly been a commercial success so far, and here’s to continuing that success into the future. Meanwhile, check out the murals after the click.
