Dixie Highway to get huge safety makeover

Long known as "Dixie Dieway," most of Dixie Highway from Broadway to the Gene Snyder Freeway will get a major makeover with $28.4 million in federal and state grants newly earmarked for the improvements.

A $16.9 million federal grant, being matched by $11.5 million in state funds, was announced Monday by U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District, along with Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer.

The officials did not release a timetable for designing or constructing the planned improvements, but the project is intended to transform one of the busiest local roadways into "a modern, safer, more pedestrian-friendly corridor," Yarmuth said in announcing the Department of Transportation grant.

Several million dollars has already been spent in early work on improving Dixie - a program being called DixieDoOver.  The Metro Council funded the drafting of a master plan for Dixie by a consultant, HNTB. That plan covered more than 10 miles of the highway from downtown to the Snyder and was completed in January 2013, after extensive public input.  The plan suggested some specific land uses along the highway and could be the basis for the road improvements.

Dixie has long been one of Louisville’s most important and busiest transportation and development corridors, providing a critical link for residents and businesses in southwest Louisville to jobs, educational institutions and medical centers - as well as the nearby U.S. Army base at Fort Knox.

Some sections of Dixie carry more than 60,000 vehicles per day and has the region’s busiest bus route, Route 18, serving more than 4,800 daily riders.

But the corridor’s current poor design negatively affects all transportation users and leads to double the number of injury-collisions when compared to similar roadways statewide, the officials noted.

“This federal investment will not only respond to congestion and safety concerns, it will revitalize the Dixie Highway corridor, by making it a national model of regional commercial and multi-modal integration,” said Yarmuth. “At a time when federal dollars for infrastructure have been severely cut, for this project to receive full funding shows just how important these improvements are to our city, this region and our nation.”

The state is committed to providing $11.5 million toward the Dixie Highway project.  It is to include upgraded, computer-controlled traffic signalization designed to reduce commuter delays; improved safety through new sidewalks and improved crosswalks; and development of exclusive bus lanes.

“Dixie Highway once ran through farmland, minutes from downtown Louisville. But over the last 100 years it has grown to become a critical corridor for the movement of people and freight between Louisville, Fort Knox and points to the southwest,” said Beshear.

“Today it is wide, heavily used and often unsafe. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet long has recognized Dixie Highway’s strategic importance and poor repair and committed $11.5 million in state road funds toward the required match for (the federal) grant."

He said the Dixie project will allow a comprehensive approach to improving the roadway - addressing safety and congestion issues, transit operations, and pedestrian connectivity.

Fischer said securing the federal grant  “was a true team effort ... and would not have been possible without the support of state legislators and Metro Council members, who are providing matching investments.”

“The name Dixie Highway is synonymous with traffic congestion, pedestrian deaths and vehicle accidents,” the mayor said. “This project will transform Dixie Highway and make it safer for drivers and pedestrians.  It will also make the commercial stretch more attractive and improve public transit along one of our city’s most important thoroughfares.”

The "Transforming Dixie Highway project" was designed over a year ago and intended to move beyond incremental efforts made in the past to address congestion, safety and efficiency.

The project takes a more strategic and comprehensive approach to building a sustainable, safe and well-managed transportation link between Louisville’s downtown and its southwestern communities.

Metro Council members who represent areas along Dixie Highway expressed delight in getting the grant money.

“I have worked tirelessly over the past several years to further the DixieDoOver, because I believe it will be transformative for the Dixie Corridor and Southwest Louisville," said Councilman Rick Blackwell, D-12th District.

Major Dixie Highway work to begin

Councilman David Yates, D-25th, said the massive federal grant "will provide the essential funding needed to ensure the transformation of the largest economic corridor in our city. This investment will provide the safety improvements and economic development our Southwest community has longed deserved.”

Councilwoman  Cindi Fowler, D-14th, called the grant money "a fantastic step in the right direction for improving the Dixie Highway corridor by making it safer and more business friendly."

Councilwoman Mary Woolridge, D-3rd, called the pending work on Dixie "long overdue and necessary for bringing Dixie Highway into the 21st Century."

And Councilman David James, D-6th, said that "motorists, pedestrians and others who use this important highway know it is time to make changes for safety and better mobility."

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at (502) 582-7089, or via email at sshafer@courier-journal.com.