Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Streetsblog.net

Take a Moment to Appreciate the Absolute Enormity of This Interchange

Louisville's new "Ohio River Bridges" Interchange, right between downtown and the waterfront. Photo: Ohio River Bridges project
Louisville's new and expanded "Spaghetti Junction," right between downtown and the waterfront. Photo: The Ohio River Bridges Project
Louisville's new "Ohio River Bridges" Interchange, right between downtown and the waterfront. Photo: Ohio River Bridges project

Every once in a while you have to step back and gape at the sheer scale of the highway interchanges America has built smack in the middle of our cities.

Branden Klayko at Broken Sidewalk is taking a moment to do just that with Louisville's Spaghetti Junction, between downtown and the waterfront. This giant interchange is being expanded as part of the $2.6 billion Ohio River Bridges Project, after wealthy suburban property owners and Kentucky's highway industrial complex squashed a grassroots effort to reclaim the Louisville waterfront from cars.

Klayko says a whole city neighborhood could just about fit inside the footprint of this one interchange:

When you’re zooming through Spaghetti Junction for most of the day when there’s no traffic, it might seem like the tangle of highway ramps isn’t really that big. Or if you’re stuck in construction traffic, it might seem like it never ends. Speed has a way of distorting our sense of distance.

The Downtown Crossing segment of the Ohio River Bridges Project (ORBP) recently shared these aerial views of the junction taken this spring by HDR Engineering, and it’s apparent you could fit a large chunk of Downtown Louisville within the bounds of the highway.

For instance, Spaghetti Junction would stretch from Ninth Street to Floyd Street and from Main Street to Liberty if laid across the grid east to west. Placing it north to south would span from Main Street to past York Street. That’s a long ways.

By backing this project instead of the more humane "8664" option, the region's political leaders made their priorities clear: speeding commuters from the suburbs matters more than nurturing a strong downtown. Now this colossus will shape the future of Louisville for a very long time.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Greater Greater Washington reports that DDOT chief Leif Dormsjo has taken the Federal Transit Administration to task over how it regulates safety on the Washington Metro and other transit systems. Bike Portland explains why voters should support a 10-cent local gas tax. And Market Urbanism considers how school choice, or lack thereof, might affect development patterns.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday’s Headlines Turn Back the Clock

The Trump administration is undoing decades of progress on transportation emissions and safety — progress that many would argue was too modest to begin with.

March 14, 2025

Friday Video: Welcome to the War on ‘Woke’ Transportation

Overwhelmed by weeks of federal attacks on green and equitable transportation? Catch up with this explainer and plug in to the fight.

March 14, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: The Annual Yonah Freemark Show, Part II

Yonah Freemark of the Urban Institute is back again for Part II of his annual "Talking Headways" discussion.

March 13, 2025

What if the ‘Tesla Takedown’ Is Only the Beginning?

Tesla's cars have become symbols of Elon Musk's controversial role in U.S. politics — but they're also instruments of a violent system that long predates his time in the White House.

March 13, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines Are Hard-Driving

To paraphrase Billy Idol: Get out of my car, get into my dreams. Wired shows us examples of cities cutting down on driving that most of us can only fantasize about.

March 13, 2025
See all posts