Land Development & Transportation Committee - Regular Meeting

Amazing great teams when we visited the Fern Creek 8U Softball All-Stars as they prepared for last weekend's Babe Ruth World Series in Alabama. And we are here to celebrate because today they brought home the hardware. The Fern Creek team won the Babe Ruth World Series last weekend. Winning a world championship at any age, at any level, is an incredible feat. And so it's just only fitting that we're here in Fern Creek today to celebrate this library and celebrate this team, their accomplishments, their players, the coaches, and all of the families who supported them during this season that led to this world championship.

What'd you bring? Tell them!

From the Department of Transportation, we're really excited about this new partnership with Lime and TARC, and we really encourage any Louisvillians who haven't tried these vehicles to go out and give them a try and take a ride and see how you like them.

We recently partnered with CityWise Software to launch a new rental housing website that brings local listings into one easily searchable place. And different from national listing sites, this platform is designed around our community's needs and our goals here in Louisville. It elevates small and mid-sized landlords who often rely on word of mouth for renters so that they can filter by price by number of bedrooms in the neighborhood to compare what's easily available. Small landlords, those with under 20 listings, will be able to post on this website for free to get the word out about their apartments. You can check it out at our website, apartments.louisvilleky.com.

Looking to get away? Want to go nonstop? Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport can take you to Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Newark, New York, Orlando, and a lot more. Visit flylouisville.com for all the details.

The last year, year and a half, we kind of have an historic amount of investment in transportation, particularly in the Louisville area, Jefferson County area. Some people see that as a really, really good thing, of course, like I do. Some people, you know, they wake up in the morning, they get dressed, ready for work, and they get in their car and they go out on the road and they see a barrel. and their systolic over the dystalic immediately just goes up, and I get that too. But behind every one of those barrels is an investment, is a plan, is a set of engineers, is a governmental agency, elected officials that have really spent a lot of time trying to do the right thing and as wes said marion said and the theme of what we're going to talk about a lot today is you know safety when i first started 20 years ago in this job it seemed like it was more about how many cars can we get through how fast can we get them through let's push everybody through and that is important we want reliable networks of course but we also want safe travel for everybody and that's all users not just trucks not cars but pedestrians and cyclists

Hi, I'm Althea Jackson, the Director of Louisville Metro's Boards and Commissions. Today we're going to learn about one of our many Boards and Commissions.

The Louisville Hotel Partnership exists to drive incremental room nights into the hotel community as well as to drive workforce and to drive tourism infrastructure throughout Jefferson County. We support 20 million annual visitors that come into our community that we're also passionate about, providing jobs for over 65,000 people in the hospitality industry, which is one of the largest industries in the state of Kentucky and certainly in Jefferson County. So please, when you see a visitor, understand the economic impact that everyone brings to Louisville, which is gonna help our city as a destination, but also help the community at large by supporting small businesses, supporting our bars, supporting our restaurants, supporting our great attractions, the Kentucky Derby, University of Louisville, all of our great universities and schools. There's so many great things When tourism grows, it's an extremely competitive landscape and the Louisville Hotel Partnership enables us to be more competitive to try to steer more jobs, more support for small businesses, as well as more room nights into the hotel community. So thank you very much.

A suburban form district usually is made up of single-family houses with garages that face the street and stores or offices that are built in separate areas away from the homes. In contrast, a traditional form district puts homes, shops, and public places close together so people can easily walk from one to another, making the neighborhood more friendly for pedestrians.

Like long-held public records, many have been maintained, some are intact, but most never really examined.

1,795.

As we begin to better understand the scope and historical significance of these materials, it became clear they deserve careful, professional review and long-term, proper preservation. Some of these records reflect difficult and painful chapters of our past. including the area of enslavement. These aren't just historical artifacts. They represent real people, real families, and real experiences that have shaped our community, our city, our state, and even our nation.

Over the next few months, a Filson project team will locate and inventory the wills, deeds, and other records in the possession of the county clerk's office. We'll work with preservation and digitization partners to ensure that both the original books are safe and stable and that people with roots in Jefferson County can access these materials wherever they are now. We'll build on the work of community archivists in the past to index these records and work to cross-reference them and build deeper context about the individuals and families caught in these legal...

If your electricity has been off for 12 minutes.

All right, we'll call this meeting to order. This is the regularly called Public Works Committee meeting of Metro Council. This meeting is being held pursuant to KRS 61.826 in Council Rule 5A. I am joined in chamber by my Vice Chair, Ken Herndon. Councilwoman Josie Raymond, Councilwoman Crystal Bast. I'm joined online by Councilman Benson, Councilman Ben Reno-Weber, and Councilman Kevin Bratcher.

And I think that's everybody.

All right, thank you. So as far as the agenda goes, items three through 14 will be held. We will take the remaining items in reverse order, starting with item number two. R-101-26, a resolution determining a portion of real property located at 3705 Stone Lake Strive as surplus and not needed for governmental purposes of Metro government and authorizing its transfer. Do we have a motion? All right, I have a second.

Second.

Thank you. I'm getting a wonder there for a minute. We have someone to speak to this. If so, just state your name for the record. And you have the floor, sir.

I'm Wes Sidnor. I'm the Executive Director of Louisville Public Works. Yeah, so this is a pretty straightforward. We had acquired easements right away for the Plant Side Drive extension. And this is property or pieces of property and parcels that are not going to be needed for that. for that section of roadway. There's a use that the adjacent owners have in terms of ball fields and other parts of the property, and so it's not needed for the connection, so we're surrendering that back.

All right, thank you, sir. Do we have anyone to speak, ask questions, express concerns? Anyone online? Anyone in the queue?

I can speak to it. All right. Councilman Benson. Thank you chairman. Uh, yeah, uh, we, we, uh, really, I guess we took too much land when we thought we needed more and, uh, and now we're going to try to give it back to the people we took it from. So, uh, I'd appreciate you all supporting it.

Thank you, sir. Any others? Right. This is a resolution requiring a voice vote. All those in favor. Uh, all those opposed. Yeah, I just have it. This will go on to the consent calendar at the next council meeting. Uh, the next item is item ID two six dash one one four three capital major capital projects update by public works executive director. You have the floor. Sure. That was the quickest login I've ever seen. All right, floor is yours, sir.

Good afternoon, Chair. I am still Wes Sidnor, Director of Public Works, and I'm joined with my colleague.

Nick Vale, Assistant Director of Engineering. All right.

We're getting a fairly concise update on some of the major capital projects that we have going. just some quick definitions, some are completed projects, active construction and some things that are upcoming. So what is a major project? I know that somewhat subjective because what constitutes a major project to someone might be a different definition to someone else. But for our purposes in general terms, if a project is receiving state or federal funding, if we're needing to coordinate approvals with other state or federal agencies, beyond maintenance improvements, but capital improvements or enhancements, and then if there's coordination that's required across multiple divisions within the DOT and Public Works. We have over 60 of these, you know, basically federally funded projects that are totaling more than $200 million. Not all of those are funded, but that's still a pretty heavy portfolio of projects that we have under our umbrella that we're managing. We have a very, I won't say small team, but we have a team that is very nimble, that is working through these projects to get them funded, designed, and then executed. So some of the completed projects that we have, you know, say completed, but there's always, you know, there's hardly ever a project that I'm done, we're walking away, and there's nothing else to do. And so East Market is a project like that. We've had some additional conversations with stakeholders and have continued to have that dialogue with those that use it. but this was a major safety improvement made it more friendly for pedestrians and enhances the ability to get around and then the ability to connect with the businesses in the corridor. And so the construction on this project began in 24 mid-year and then was finished in February of, substantially complete in February of 2026. Again, we're still working through some of the details on different amenities that are part of that and we're very proud of it. Huge improvement, it's already started to win awards and so we'll continue on with these types of improvements for safety and mobility through Metro. Another project like that completed Main Street and Story. So you've noticed that change in that intersection and some of the approaches. So again, it's very safety heavy. How do we improve signaling? How do we improve, and you have Lincoln Elementary near here and other schools. How do we improve the walkability and the safety for this corridor? And so we feel like we were very successful in that. The project began March of last year and finished in August of last year. One that you might be seeing when you get off the ramp at Third Street, come down River Road, there's a whole corridor. This is part of the Louisville Loop, and so this improvement, again, makes things safer, improves lighting, makes this corridor more inviting for folks to visit. And so there's some artistic and decorative lighting elements to this project that we've been working with partners like Louisville Downtown Partnership on managing that. But another project that is right front and center on the riverfront that we're very proud of and was completed this past spring. We've heard a lot in the community about the change in the TARC network. One of the components of that network was their hub that went in at the intersections of Muhammad Ali and Seventh and Eighth, and so we were a key partner in those projects that included striping, one way to two way conversions and creating this sort of on the street hub for TARP to interface and have connections to other buses and other routes. Talked about one way to two way conversions. One of the things that we've heard over the last several years and months is that converting from a one-way setup to a two-way setup improves safety, slows people down, and also improves the walkability of a corridor. And so there's more to come in this space. There's some money budgeted that was allocated toward one-way to two-way conversions, and so we're going to be taking on more of these types of projects going forward. Another loop project is the Middletown Eastwood Trail or the Met. We're trying to connect, first of all, overall, trying to complete the Louisville loop. I know there's another committee meeting, another presentation on the loop later this week. A project like this is connecting the Parklands going west toward old Shelbyville Road on Shelbyville. a part of a greater network to increase the connectivity to the loop. And so, again, a big investment, lots of federal money that we're leveraging on these types of projects and so excited to move those forward. Now, locally funded, by the definition provided earlier, those don't necessarily meet the federal funding and state funding categories, but we thought we would highlight some of these because they're very much front and center and have a huge impact on the residents here. So major project to rehab 11th Street and basically rebuild that. There's a roundabout in Fairdale that we have been working with the council office and partners and stakeholders in that area to not just improve traffic flow and safety, but working with them to make that an amenity as far as an artistic piece and a visual piece. A couple other locally funded, you know, some Moser Road, there's some traffic changes and lane changes that we've added and worked through on there to make that corridor move, more efficiently and more safely. And then some connectivity projects. There's a major sidewall project that we put on US 42 and Hubbard's Lane that's connecting several suburban cities and neighborhoods. You might have heard about the Aiken Roundabout. So that is a project that kicked off a couple of weeks ago. feel like this is going to be a huge improvement to traffic flow and connection and safety in this area. And so we're continuing to work through this project. It's supposed to be finished in early November and we're pressing forward to get that done and get this open so that can be used by that community out there. Hall Place, I'm sure Chairman and others are familiar with this connection in this street. Again, improving connectivity and mobility in that area. Just a couple more high-level ones. Reimagine 9th Street, this is a project that's been on the books for, you know, several years we have a 20 million dollar federal raise grant that's part of this and so we're nearing final design on this this project and we're uh you know looking to in the next few weeks and months get this project up and running and then um This one has a very, very, very long history. It may predate the bridges discussions that we've had, but Widening River Road. So this has been talked about for 30 plus years, probably closer to 40. So this is a widening project closer to Eva Bandman to Zorn, that corridor, and also as part of this is part of the loop and those improvements. And so we're excited not only to extend the loop and enhance the loop but to create this traffic improvement out here. Safe Streets for All, there are several projects. This is a federally funded, pretty significant grant to address these, but it's all about, as the name says, all about safe streets. So reducing speeding, using techniques and strategies to slow people down, to make it safer for pedestrians and crossings, and also increase the connections of the bike network in town. And so we're entering final design on these projects and we're anticipating construction's gonna start in late 27. And the previous item that was discussed is about Plant Side Drive. And so we are very much in the midst of the preliminary design on this project. There's an existing leveling called the Bridge to Nowhere that is over the railroad tracks that exists today. And so what this project will do is create connections between Taylorsville Road and Plainside Drive, the existing Plainside Drive, and also provide access to the Norton Hospital complex that is coming in. So some of the challenges that we have, just at a high level, when you're talking about federal funding, we get these questions all the time, state, federal funding, why do things take so long? And so there is a process when you use those funds. I think the counter to that, as we know, is that When you're using federal funds and leveraging as much of that as possible in state funds, then that's potentially less of a burden on the local municipality and those taxpayers. Cost volatility, we've seen differing costs in pavement and other projects varying with the economy. So that's just something we have to be aware of and work through. When you're talking about coupling together funding sources, there's the potential that there could be delays when you're filling those gaps, and so that's something that creates a challenge at times. And then there are some more rigorous right-of-way requirements and statute that we're working through and trying to fully understand and And like I said, work through to make sure that we're moving as quickly as possible while staying in compliance with statute. And I'm gonna pause there and stop talking.

Take questions. Thank you, appreciate that. I have Councilman Bratcher in my queue. Councilman Bratcher, you have the floor. Is he still on?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Wes. Did you mention Cooper Chapel Phase 3 at all? Did I miss it?

We did not, but do you want to speak to where we're at with that one?

Yeah, I believe, excuse me, this is Nick Vale. I believe, and I'll have to double check, that I think we are close, if not complete, with the right-of-way process, and that has been, I think, a five- to eight-year slog to get through that.

I think it's been 25 years, actually. Right-of-way's clear. I mean, we've been talking about that since I first came on the scene, but anytime you can give me some info on where that's at, it's the easements, right?

Yes, it's the right-of-way, yep.

And last I heard, there was some utility work being done? This is Bill Bell, director of DOP.

Yes, we've moved from the right-of-way phase to the utility phase, so utility work's being done right now.

And another question, Mr. Chair is our comment. I've called a lot about weeds and you guys have responded really well because if you live out here in the more rural areas, some weeds or tall grass or whatever can block the viewing of when you're wanting to negotiate a turn or something. You guys have been real good about that. But I'm just wondering if there's ever been, is there a schedule where those are looked at, or is it just as it's needed, you guys do it?

I'd say both. Yeah, we do have a schedule. Especially the big, the boom mowers, they're on schedule. But anytime that you all see something that looks bad, it could be a line of sight issue, please email us or report a 311. It'll get in the queue. We may not be able to get to it within two hours, but we'll get to it as soon as possible because that's a safety issue.

And then just another comment is just I'm really pleased with the way you guys operate. It's so easy to work with you. You respond. And Wes and Bill, I think you guys are doing a great job. Thank you very much. Thank you. That's all. Thank you.

Thanks.

Thank you, Councilman. Vice Chair Herndon. Yes, sir. We're going to talk about two-way conversions.

Yes. As I said when we shared a panel the other day, a little forum, I believe that all urban streets should be two-way unless there's a compelling reason for them not to be, and sometimes there is, but most of the time there's not. The other view has been prevailed over decades, and I'm glad to see us moving in the other direction. ask about how they're converted and if it's consistent. Like on Main Street, we just had two-way, one-way, two-way. I know recently I saw on Seventh Street that it's one-way except between Magazine and Liberty. I know you gotta do things in phases, but it can be confusing to drivers. And just wondered how it could be a little more consistent to be less confusing in that way.

Yeah, so I won't speak for the Main Street project, it's KYTC, but some of the ones that will be done 7th and 8th that you mentioned, there is a process to, you know, we try to do things in stages so that, let's say, for example, that you were removing a light. What we would want to do is, in those situations, we'd have a flasher for a period of time so that people are not, completely surprised when that pattern changes. There's other things with signage that we'll do. Yeah, the whole point at the end of the day is to make it, quite honestly, less confusing. I know people that that have the experience that they are afraid to go downtown because of one-way streets. So I think at the end of a project, if there's the potential to do that, we can have, it's more, I guess, easier to understand, more, Simple, safer, and I think those things are tied together. But some of the things that we'll do, obviously striping, signage, we'll have to look at, is it switching from a signal to a stop, four-way stop situation, things like that are part of that. But yes, we are developing a strategy, have a strategy on that. not just with the money that's been allocated, but what's the future plan for conversions? Because it has shown to be safer and more efficient.

Oh yeah, I'm bought in totally. For example, Ollie and Chestnut are being done in pairs, best practice from West to 7th, I believe. Is that right? Yeah. 9th, 7th, but then it stops. How can we finish it all the way and get that done? I know it's money, obviously, but it just bothers me that we don't seem to, not your fault, it's been going on for years, that we don't quite ever get to those finishing touches that just complete the conversion and be done with it. Yeah. I understand. I just want to bring it up again. The one-way, two-way, one-way, that makes me crazy, I have to tell you. And I know that Main Street is the state, but they just repaved and restriped it. Why did they not go ahead and just two-way that section? I don't understand that. It's not your fault, but that just confuses me.

I can't speak to the Main Street project, but on the 7th and 8th, and why did we accelerate some of the two-way conversions. And ideally, the entire 7th and 8th corridors would have been two-wayed at one time. We probably weren't ready to do that until next spring, summer. But because of the TARC network redesign, we wanted to accelerate those few streets for them to be able to implement their project. So that's kind of why that piecemeal approach ended up happening on that corridor.

And I get where there are all kinds of other layers of the story, not just what we see. So I thank you for pointing that out.

Thank you. And for the record, we've been joined in chamber by Councilwoman Chappell. And Councilwoman Chappell, you have the floor.

Thank you. On the way here, I was thinking I should get a... T-shirt or something that says, and for the record, we've been joined by, because that usually precedes my name. Tardiness is no stranger in my life. Thank you for being here. It was very frustrating getting here, no fault of yours, coincidentally, just because with JCPS and UofL and 65 and It's crazy out there, so I hope people are getting around okay. And you guys have had really wonderful things in your presentation, the Story Fifth Street redesign, or not, so sorry, Story Main Street. That has been such a cool project, and it's been really nice to see that area getting that attention. I have just a couple of questions. I want to talk about plans. When can we expect the 9th Street final plan to be published online and for the public to review?

Reimagine 9th Street. Obviously, the two-way of Ali and Chestnut is ongoing. We actually have a bid out right now. We need to repave that, so we're putting a bid out to repave it. then we'll convert it to two-way. The other part of that project was the 9th Street. We actually just had a call with our consultant in Federal Highways the other day, and I think ideally we're getting final design completed by the end of October, and then be able to seek federal approval in November, and hopefully that doesn't take too long. And so, yes, I think we'll know more about final design, I think, in late October. Sure.

Looking forward to that. Preston corridor plan. I know I've brought this up many times before, but that is, if you link that, go to that link on the transportation corridor studies and plans page. It's actually Preston Corridor Plan Final Draft. So we can see it's in draft form, and if you want more proof of it, you could go to, I think, page three, and it has placeholder letter from the mayor, which is blank. I kind of get deep into thought on this because this study was actually done before Greenberg took office and so which letter from the mayor are you actually going to get? Does the mayor stand by this plan? Are we adopting this plan? Are we working towards this plan or do we need to go back to the drawing board because it's so old? So I'm just trying to figure out, when we're trying to be counsel people that are being proactive about things, I'm always told wait for the plan, wait for the plan, but if we never get the plan,

What are we supposed to do?

Yeah, go ahead.

And I know that just for the general public, there was a holdup because KYTC was doing their own study. Last year, I found out that study only went from Fern Valley Road out to the county line on Preston Highway, so it didn't impact a lot of districts like mine. And I think that there's 13 council districts that touch Preston Highway, if I recall correctly. I believe that.

I think you're right.

Or maybe it's 13 miles uncertain, but anyways.

Yeah. Good afternoon, Mike King, assistant director LUDOT. Excuse me. You are accurate that, well, we were waiting on the state plan to get finalized, but we were doing some stuff in the interim with the present quarter plan. I'm sad to hear that the official draft is not online, so I'll make sure that that gets up there. The state plan goes from 264 all the way out to the county line. So they went a little bit further in than what you were talking about, but not a lot. We have done some interim steps in the process. We established the sort of transit feasibility analysis, which is one of the action items from the Preston Corridor Plan, which really dove into how we can better utilize transit on one of the busiest transit corridors within the city. A lot's changed with transit nationally and locally over the last year especially and even over the last month especially I would say. But those plans are still forefront at what TARC would like to do in terms of how they're gonna effectively run their network. So that's a really key part of it. On top of that we've done a few smaller installs of some sidewalk projects in the Indian Trail area that were a big part of that, kind of reestablishing pedestrian connectivity. We've actually got a few dollars left over from that that we're actually still going to be able to do a few other smaller scale projects. But the ultimate big challenge to pulling off the execution of a full plan like the Preston Corridor Plan and rethinking that whole thing is a lot of the metrics of the way federal competitive grants are set up now, which is what we would probably need to fund some of that, aren't completely supportive of a lot of the things that were in the Preston Corridor Plan. So a lot of this administration's policies are a little bit more focused, a little bit more auto-centric in terms of getting cars through and more throughput and capacity, whereas the Preston Corridor Plan was about sort of providing other means of transportation in a lot of ways, while still providing the same amount of capacity. So that's not to say that we couldn't get those grants, but we would be less likely to probably be receiving those grants. So we haven't been as aggressive in going after them right now. Does that make sense?

It does. It makes sense. And I've got one more question to stick with my plans theme, and then I'll jump back in the queue. But I was wondering about kind of prioritization and what gets priority. Eastern Parkway, the transportation plan is there from 2020, and a lot of it hasn't been implemented. Now that is another state street, and so you have to think of that coordination, but when we're writing a plan, are we writing it as a plan that we're hoping to achieve no matter what administration? Because the Eastern Parkway plan, I think that that's three presidents that we've been, well, in terms of different, You know what I'm trying to say. Different administrations. And so are we writing our plans in a way that we want to see this is how we want to see our city or this is how we're going to settle to see our city because this is where the administration sees it?

No, I think those plans are absolutely, they're driven by the community. There's a big community input to that. Excuse me again. Yes, some of those priorities may be set by a local administration at the time of like, hey, let's really look at this corridor. But a lot of times, I mean, those plans carry over for a lot of different reasons, whether it be safety, connectivity, requests from the public in general. And then we do those plans through a public lens. So while the administrations may change, in reality, the public's still gonna have sort of this fervor for, hey, we would like to see some changes on these roadways. To your bigger question of why aren't these maybe getting done, I think it kind of was alluded in our presentation, there's a backlog of a lot of projects. So there's been a lot of plans that predate those plans and plans that predate the plans that we haven't even got to in some of these cases yet. So I think the real focus of the DOT right now is to try and execute the projects that we already have in motion that are moving and moving and moving. That's not to say that the opportunity doesn't come along for us to be able to do those other projects, we wouldn't pursue it, but we're really trying to focus on getting things done so that we can get up to the standards of get all these construction projects to your point of having challenges getting here today, get a lot of those things done before we start taking more on because we're fiscally constrained and we're constrained with staff capacity as well, so we can only do so much, but I think ultimately it's let's get done what we're working on now, but that doesn't mean these other plans aren't still a priority at some point.

Sure. Yeah, like you were saying, I think Berry Boulevard is one of those 10 projects that were completed Complete Streets? Safe Streets for All. Safe Streets for All, so sorry. And we started that in 2023, and he said completion in 2027, so four years to get that done. And I don't know what the plans are, but I think it's just like bump outs. That's crazy. Again, I'm not sitting here saying anything about the hard work that you guys are doing, but just the layers of coordination that it takes is insane. Thank you, I'll get back to you.

Thank you. Councilwoman Raymond.

Thank you. I love seeing that slate of traffic calming projects, and I know that all of us have a handful that we would like addressed. Is it gonna take, realistically, another massive influx of federal money to have another slate of traffic calming projects?

I would say more than likely, yeah, I mean, for the cost for them, I would say so. There might be more opportunities coming up. Again, I think, You know, local matching funds is also an issue. But yeah, I think more than likely to really accelerate a number of those, it would take federal investment, maybe state. But I mean, I think we're trying to be as nimble as we can where funds are available locally to implement projects. We've highlighted a number of them. Yeah, like Aiken Road and Arnold Palmer Roundabout, that's a locally funded project, but again, $1.5 million, pretty hefty price tag.

It seems like there's been a lot of headlines lately. Are they just standing out to me, or has the media seized on lately the most dangerous intersections? I keep seeing headline after headline, and we know many of them. So when we see that list of 10, And it was, what, $21 million federal funds, right? I think that is really visible, tangible expression, right, that we're caring for people and their experience and their safety. And I'm just wondering how long it is until we say, and here's the next 10. Thank you.

Anything else? Got to warm and best. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry. Councilman Bin, Reno, Weber.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First off, I just want to echo my colleagues' compliments on so much of the good work that you're doing. I think as somebody who works most days in Newloo, now that people are more used to the new arrangements. It is night and day from the chaos that was before. And you can see, you know, there and then along the Barchstown Road corridor, what that means for local retail that people, you know, can feel like they can get there and easily figure out where they're going. So thank you so much for that. Can you talk a little bit about some of the efforts that I know you guys are making to do more coordination across all the various agencies to sort of have clarity around processes for doing this kind of infrastructure development? You know, okay, we got a request for this. We need to do this kind of study. I know you guys are doing a lot around that, but I think that'd be really interesting for me and my colleagues to understand a little more about that.

Yeah, I'll start, and then I know, Nick, you have some input on that, too. First of all, just from a coordination perspective, one of the key parts of the DOT in that creation was the creation of a utility coordinator, so not just on the planning side, but on the actual execution side, making sure that there's someone dedicated, and we have multiple people like this, but we have a central hub that will coordinate with other utilities, other municipalities, and if there's some efficiency to be gained, some reduction in the frustration that can be caused by coordinating those activities. That's something we're trying to do on a, multiple times daily basis, and that includes KYTC, that includes the other utilities in town. And so, just from an execution standpoint, really working to get better in that space. As far as the planning, you know, Nick and others can talk through, just when we're putting together, there's the engagement piece of getting a plan together, we won't have the input of the community. We're also working with some of those same partners when we're seeking federal funding or state funding. Just a perfect example, this past session, some of the wins that the city has had from the General Assembly as far as infrastructure. And so to get some of those things on the books, it took coordination with our elected officials and as well with KYTC on what do we see as the priorities, what are the Commonwealth's priorities and how can we marry some of those up. I don't know if you want to talk through some of the funding processes and that coordination.

Sure, when it comes to our state and federally funded projects, we're working hand in glove with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, the District Five office, but not only the District Five office, when it comes to bike and pedestrian focused projects, those we actually coordinate with central office in Frankfort. There's some pinch points there that we're trying to work through in that they just have a, lack of resources like many public agencies are experiencing right now. So a lot of those approvals flow through one person. So those are things, challenges that we definitely deal with that slow some of the projects down when they're state and federally funded. But I think we've made a lot of improvements definitely with The coordination, we have bi-monthly meetings for all of our state and federally funded projects with our KYTC partners. And then the Federal Highway Administration, Kentucky Division, I was formerly there as of April of last year. There was a number of staff all across the federal government at DC and at the state headquarters that are no longer with them. And so I know there's been some challenges in terms of turnarounds with our federal partners. So we just continue to work as best we can and be as proactive as we can in our approaches there. And we'll continue to try to identify ways of improving the timelines and the turnarounds for project delivery.

Thank you. Now, Councilwoman Best. Thanks.

So first and foremost, we're going to let you all leave here with a big head today, because I'm going to brag on you, too, because I wish I could clone you guys and get your communication to a lot of the other departments we have that we get lack of. So kudos to all of you all for that and your hard work. I also want to just say, yay, finally Westpages starting this week. So exciting. I'm only asking this because I kind of have you all right here right now, and this is going to be a huge project, and we're starting to get a lot of questions about the Greenwood Road that's supposed to start, I'm assuming, 2027 still. Do you all have any update information on that that we could possibly, with as big as a project that's going to be?

I do not, but I'll pause for Nick. I know it's a state road, but I didn't know it was logged out in the updates. We can reach out to District 5 and get an update on it.

Okay.

All right. That's all I had.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Thank you, and we are full circle to Councilwoman Chappell.

Thank you. Mine might not be so much of a question because Councilman Reno-Weber asked about coordination with KYTC. And I just want to say it sounds like you all are doing a lot of heavy lifting and creating positions such as the utility coordinator that we've had a lot of really great success coordinating with recently. you know, the question of is KYTC working with us, you know, not very well. But then on the other side of that, is KYTC communicating with themselves? And, you know, with the 65 closure, I think that they had great communications about that closure. But then it's kind of trailed off But while that's been closed, I don't know why 71 is also having construction I don't know why they had to choose that exact same time to repave Poplar level Road. I don't know why certain things on the detour routes are from the construction they created have been happening. That's been really frustrating. Or to see some of the things on 65, such as if you're coming from the Eastern Parkway University area, you can get on the expressway there and that ramp. Also closed down because the expressway was closed down would have been a great opportunity for them to fill the I don't even know What it's called. It's not a pothole. It's like just a gash in the road You know, so it's just kind of having the foresight to say hey while we've got this closed down How is this going to impact other things but also what can we do? to seize this opportunity They also said that some exits are some ramps on 65 were opening. but only a select few. That's created additional problems and so the project continues morphing and yet we do not see that coordination happening with KYTC. So again, I don't have a question and this is just a rant I think directed towards you all and how I wish KYTC could do better with us and within. Thank you. And you don't have to comment on that if you don't want to. Those opinions are those of the Councilwoman's alone.

Thank you for the disclaimer. I don't have anyone else in the queue, but I have a few questions that I've saved to the end because I feel like I've monopolized. Oh, Councilman Benson, are you wanting in the queue?

I would. I'm on his computer. I don't know how to. Q in here. I just tried to wave, hopefully. Anyway, just to ask Wes. Yes, sir. In my district, a lot of people think that we work on crisis management. We wait till somebody dies or the traffic gets so bad, then we finally decide to fix it. I'd like to be some help. If you or Bill could give me maybe 10 intersections that are a problem that we need to fix, or even 10 intersections that are gonna be a problem, and maybe we can get ahead of maybe A lot of times we wait until it's all so bad, then when we try to fix something, the traffic is so bad, the congestion, that it seems like it takes so much longer. And so to me, one of the things I've always thought that we all know where we're going and how we get there. since I've been in office, I've asked them, I said, do you have a plan on how we're going to grow or where we're going to go and where could we buy some roads or land or something? And they always thought I was nuts. But I never built anything without a plan. And I sometimes, I just wonder why don't we have some plans or where are we going? And so a couple of times I've heard some people say, hey, could you tell me how we're going to do this or what's... going on with this intersection. Nobody really realized this, but in my life, I know how to solve problems. I'm a toolmaker. I build things. I know how to build, how to make things work. And I think I could be some access if somebody thought out, you know, I know most people don't think I can think, but I can. And so if you could help me, tell me some of the intersections that are problems, are going to be problems. uh and let me uh talk it over with you all and see where you how you're how you're thinking and how we're working through it how can we get the funding how can you know there's a number of times in my my district that i can see some problems and and it could be with us and a developer and the park system and stuff we could really do a a really good job but uh nobody wants to work you know uh One person don't want to work with somebody else. I mean, I don't understand it. To me, I think everybody ought to try to do the best they can to work together with everybody. Because if you get enough people together, you can solve the problem. We just got to get the work together and make it work. And so if you would just, when you get a chance, look down and see some of the... And it could be in my district. That would probably even help me more, but... And I got a great aide who kind of looks and studies the situations and hear people talking and whatever. And so I just like to be some help. So you guys do work hard. And one of the greatest things, you're one of the few groups that want to listen. And to me, that's humbling. So thanks. And let me know.

Absolutely.

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. All right. Thank you.

No one else online? No one in the queue? I have a couple questions. Yes, sir. During your presentation, on more than one occasion, you referenced road projects making the road safer for pedestrians or safer for bikes. Can you talk about the control loop that you have in place to be able to make that claim? What data you're tracking to show before versus after?

Yeah, so a couple key things come to mind. So we have a high injury network of roadways. So we're tracking accidents that happen, fatalities across Metro. We're using that data sort of real time to make some of these decisions and recommendations. As was mentioned, there are some, and areas that are more problematic and of course we want to focus our attention on making those safer. That can be done in a variety of ways that everything from the configuration of the roadway to lane widths to striping to some of the traffic calming measures that are out there. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I think we're gonna run out of time soon. All right, sorry.

And I asked the question poorly, I think. Not what data are you looking at to decide what projects to do, but what data are you looking at to prove that the projects you've completed have actually done what you thought they would do. Does that make more sense?

Yes, yes, yeah. So it's pretty much the same data set. So we have, yeah, this basically a Vision Zero dashboard that tracks all these different locations across Metro where every accident report comes in and gets recorded, whether that's a minor thing to a fatality. And so we use that data both before and after the installation or reconfiguration or the completion of the project to determine, okay, what,

Is that something we could provide to this body that we could put in our newsletters? Yes. Because, you know, nothing succeeds like success. Absolutely. And if we're having success in some of these projects, I'd like to put that out there. Yeah. Because I certainly hear a lot of complaints about the bump outs and the curbs and where we're supposed to park and all those things. But if we can answer those complaints with we saved this many lives, we saved this many injuries, then that would be helpful. Absolutely. All right, well, thank you for that. Having no one else in my queue and no one else online wanting to speak, without objection, we are adjourned. Thank you.

Thank you all.

Thank you all.

A flashing beacon is a form of traffic control that uses flashing yellow lights at a crosswalk to warn motorists of pedestrians or bicyclists waiting to cross or already crossing the street. State law clearly states that pedestrians have the right of way when they're in the crosswalk, and rapid flashing beacons are a tool, but they are not a fail-safe. You have to continue to be cautious, be careful, and be safe.

Companies like eBay can choose to locate anywhere in the world these days. It's a global company. and there's global customers, but eBay has chosen Louisville, and we're very appreciative that TCG Player and eBay are choosing Louisville for this continued investment, for this continued upgrade facility. There are a lot of people across our city that every day they're learning about new things, and this wall behind us is reflective of just yet another part of the importance of the logistics industry here in Louisville, about how many jobs it creates, about how many things are happening behind so many of these walls in business parks like the one that we're in right now and how many good jobs are being created as a result. When people are buying their next pair of authenticated sneakers or their next Pokemon card or the next handbag, they probably might not