Talking Headways Podcast: Louisville’s Urbanism Derby

By Jeff Wood
Oct 2, 2015

This week’s guest is Branden Klayko, founder of Streetsblog Network member site Broken Sidewalk, which covers transportation and urbanist issues in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville is one of the oldest American cities west of the Appalachians, and we discuss the history of the city and its urban heritage. (Is it southern? Is it in the Midwest?) While many may know Louisville for bourbon, the Kentucky Derby, or college basketball rivalries, Branden gives us another view of the arts and culture that make the city great.

Streets-wise, there’s a lot happening in Louisville, with the coming of bike-share, the city’s focus on pedestrian and bicycle safety, and the legacy of freeway opposition in the city. Branden also reminds us of great local figures in urbanism such as Grady Clay, who was Jane Jacobs contemporary and featured in Death and Life of Great American Cities (check pages 161 and 195).

And if you’re ever in town, make sure to travel the Big Four Bridge, which proved to Louisville residents that you don’t need a car to cross the Ohio River.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

On his blog Broken Sidewalk, Branden Klayko pushed Louisville to become a more walkable city.

A Tribute to Branden Klayko, Who Loved Louisville and Wanted His City to Be Its Best

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 20, 2017

We want to take a moment to honor the life of Branden Klayko, an architect and Louisville native who founded the local blog Broken Sidewalk, which was part of the Streetsblog Network for years.

Parking Madness Elite Eight: Wilkes-Barre vs. Louisville

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 1, 2016

The final spot in the Final Four is up for grabs today, as we conclude the second week of the 2016 Parking Madness tournament. So far, parking craters in Dallas, Niagara Falls, and Federal Way, Washington have advanced to this elite stage of the competition. In today’s matchup, a waterfront parking crater in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, goes up […]

A buffered bike lane in Louisville. Photo: Bicycling for Louisville via Broken Sidewalk

To Get More People on Bikes, Louisville Needs to Raise Its Game

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 14, 2017

Louisville is making an effort to build out its bike network, adding a number of buffered bike lanes and beginning a network of low-stress "Neighborways" along residential streets. It's a start, but peer cities like Indianapolis and Pittsburgh are doing more to make cycling an appealing way to get around. Here's what Louisville needs to do to catch up.

An aerial view of Louisville's $2.3 billion Ohio River Bridges Project. Photo: Ohio River Bridges Project via Broken Sidewalk

Kentucky Spent $1.3 Billion on a Highway No One Wants

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 28, 2018

Two years after it opened, traffic is down 50 percent on Louisville's new $1.3 billion highway bridge.

Louisville Removes Sidewalk “For Safety”

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 22, 2015

Louisville is in the middle of a three-year, federally-funded safety initiative to reduce the city’s high rate of pedestrian fatalities. Per capita, four times the number of people are killed walking in Louisville than in Washington, DC. Some good improvements are in the works, but the people in charge of Louisville’s streets clearly need to get over some bad habits. Branden Klayko […]

Your 2016 Parking Madness Champion Is… Louisville!

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 8, 2016

Streetsblog readers spent the past three weeks voting in Parking Madness, the single elimination tournament where cities compete for the Golden Crater — a symbol of the shameful amount of space we’ve allowed surface parking to consume in our communities. We started with a field of 16 and now we have a champion. The winner of this year’s Golden Crater […]