More than 100 miles paved this year
Louisville, KY – Mayor Greg Fischer and members of Metro Council are celebrating great progress on repairing or replacing worn out pavement on roads across Louisville. The celebration was held last week at the corner of Broadway and South 45th Street along Shawnee Park, where crews recently completed the city’s 100th mile of paving for 2016.
This is the first time in nine years that Louisville has topped 100 miles of paving. The feat was last accomplished in 2007 when 104 miles were paved. The 2016 total is projected to reach 130 miles by the end of the paving season.
Mayor Fischer and the Council have quadrupled the city’s paving budget from $4.8 million in fiscal year 2015, up to $22 million in the current fiscal 2017 budget. The Council also included funds to complete a new assessment of the condition of pavement on arterial and connector roads throughout the city. The recently completed Pavement Condition Index will help guide future pavement management.
The Mayor said the increased paving budget is an integral part of the Move Louisville long-term multimodal transportation plan. “One of the top priorities for Move Louisville is fixing and maintaining our existing transportation infrastructure, and this achievement of paving more than 100 miles in a single year shows that we’re committed to making that happen,” he said.
Council President David Yates, Budget Committee Chairwoman Marianne Butler, Vice Chairwoman Angela Leet; and Public Works, Bridges & Transportation Committee Chairman Tom Owen all joined Mayor Fischer for the celebration.
Yates promised to continue the increased funding. “This is the start of a decade-long annual investment to ensure our city’s roads, the connectors between our homes, schools and businesses are adequately maintained for our citizens. I am proud to lead an esteemed body willing to make the hard choices today to ensure this burden is not placed upon the shoulders of our children and grandchildren tomorrow,” he said.
“Not only do nice roads enhance our neighborhoods, they also spur economic development and have a lasting impression with visitors,” Butler said. “Members of the council, particularly the Budget Committee, were happy to work cooperatively to find additional dollars for paving our roadways.”
Leet added, “This level of financial commitment is not one we can retreat from as a community in the coming years. These last two years have been a great first step toward an even more ambitious 10-year goal of repairing our roads.” She also thanked Public Works for handling the increased load. “They spend a great deal of time working with individual council offices to get these projects prioritized and ensure that these paving projects are completed correctly. They deserve a great deal of credit for their hard work,” Leet said. Owen, an avid bicyclist said, “Smooth pavement is a bicyclist’s delight! I’m so pleased that our growing local economy and the Mayor and Council have allowed us to make investment in basic infrastructure.”
