Half the cost of the Bridges Project ($2 Billion) has nothing to do with a bridge. The proposed 23 lane wide Spaghetti Junction will make downtown a construction hell for 20 years. And you get to pay for it. $4, $5 or maybe even a $6 toll every time you want to cross the river. This project was supposed to improve "cross-river mobility."

The Transportation Cabinet denies they plan to widen I-71 and I-64 through the Cochran Tunnel, but it's in their traffic modeling. They wouldn't widen these interstates in their model if they didn't plan on actually widening them.

Build the bridge

According to the  Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS"), the East End Bridge performs better than a Downtown Bridge by more than 10,000 vehicles a day. And in the  Transportation Cabinet's traffic study of something like 8664, the "System Wide Performance" of a single-bridge solution matched the ORBP's two bridge solution. So we can actually spend less and get more if we build the East End Bridge, which we can do without tolls. Take Action today.

Read our Letter to Secretary Joe Prather in response to the "8664" study.

Two important points:

1. A one-bridge solution performs as well as the ORBP. According to their own study, 8664's "System-wide Performance" was 99% as good as the $4.1 Billion ORBP. See "System Wide Measures" on page 8 of the KYTC 8664 study.
   
   
2. KYTC assumes that I-64 and I-71 will be widened to 6 lanes, while also denying it. KYTC incorrectly assumed that these interstates get wider, but they flatly deny that they plan to widen them. Widening these roadway will only serve to increase congestion and pollution by funneling more cars and trucks into downtown.

Click the link below to read letters that the Courier decided not to print.

Here's a link to the enlightening 8664 Wonderland editorial.

Submit a Letter to the CJ or share your comments here by clicking the "Comment" link above.

Today's article Study critical of 8664 proposal lacks a lot of things. Journalistic integrity among them. The study released yesterday by KYTC is unquestionably flawed. KYTC widened I-64 and I-71 into downtown. That's not in our plan. KYTC denies it's even in their plan. 

Only the very last paragraph of the article speaks to this:

"But there are no plans to widen that stretch of interstate, according to Kentucky Transportation Cabinet chief of staff Mike Hancock. "That is not back on the table," he said."

They can't have it both ways. They can't say it's not going to happen, but then include it in the 8664 study. Check that. They can have it both ways in the Courier if Marcus Green covers it.

A $60,000 PR hit job by KYTC

Today we received a copy of what is supposed to be a study of the 8664 alternative by KYTC's consultant. If they had wanted to make a good faith attempt of assessing our plan, they would have contacted us to clarify the specifics of our alternative and/or accepted our offer to provide a transporation engineer to oversee the study.

Instead they misrepresented our alternative by asserting:

• Cochran Tunnel will be destroyed and I-64 will be widened to six lanes
  (second to last bullet point on page 2)
• I-71 would also be widened to six lanes
• I-64 and I-71 terminate at Clay Street
• Waterfront Boulevard would divide the Great Lawn
• we don't address Kennedy Bridge rehabilitation

All of the above are false, and therefore KYTC's analysis is NOT a 8664 Study. In fact, if you wanted the 8664 alternative to fail, you would do exactly what they have attempted to do -- force more interstate and limited access traffic into Spaghetti Junction and change where the I-64 ramp enters downtown.

Our friends at Brokensidewalk.com do a bang up job of describing in detail what Spaghetti Junction 2.0 (aka "Abramson Interchange") will do to downtown. Like most of their site, Standing Under the Highway, Regretting is informative and insightful.

Thanks to everyone who turned out for the 2nd Annual 8664 Forum. Based on your feedback, it sounds like it was both informative and inspiring. It's great to hear about another city that overcame initial opposition to their waterfront reclamation project.

Here's a recap of Cary Moon's presentation from Seattle' People's Waterfront Coalition:

Cities, Waterfronts and Sustainable Transportation 

Question #1: Does I-64 need to be a highway?

• How many are local trips?
• Urban *demand* is elastic; trips are flexible
• There is excess capacity on existing street grid

Question #2: What is best use of waterfront?

Question #3: Is there a smarter way to provide access?

• DOT forecasts can be wildly inaccurate
• Driving down across the country
• Cities are again the centers of future economic growth
• Does Louisville dream to be a convenient bypass?  

We'd like to spend our time talking about the benefits of a vibrant, sustainable downtown. But the entrenched political and media interests are working against us, so we need to speak out.

When it comes to bridges, a small group of citizens and elected leaders will do anything to stop an East End Bridge. The politicians are being dishonest with the people who elected them.

City Center and the Downtown Arena are two examples of how decisions get made without the input of tax-paying citizens like you. GLI and other groups like DDC and the Bridges Coalition are used to support an agenda without your input or the input of the Metro Council. It's a practice that needs to be stopped if we want true public discourse on important city issues like bridges.

Yesterday's op-ed by John David Dyche shines a bright light on some questionable city practices. How can the Downtown Development Corporation ("DDC"), who is responsible for "planning for the long-term economic health and vitality of downtown," honestly support a 23 lane wide Spaghetti Junction?

Furthermore, why is the current Chairman of DDC a past President of River Fields. And why would he also be on the Build the Bridges Coalition, when he clearly doesn't support building the East End Bridge? Does anyone on the Coalition actually support the most needed, least expensive bridge?

What is going on in River City?

Read Dyche's: Abramson's lordly ways (We've got to give the C-J a little "cred" for actually running this piece. Out of character, but a good thing nonetheless.)