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Louisville looks to bring back Eastern Parkway to Olmsted's original plan

Eastern Parkway is one of Louisville's original parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted may be seeing a revitalization in the coming years.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Eastern Parkway is a historic area, it's meant to connect the parks in Louisville. Now the city is conducting a public survey to see how they can bring this area back to its original intent.

"The parkways were designed in concept by Frederick Law Olmsted Senior and that was between 1893 and 1895," said John Swintosky who is the Senior Landscape Architect for Metro Public Works.

Olmsted envisioned the parkways as a way to connect people from their homes to places for recreation. 

"And it was for all modes of travel as well. When he was designing, the automobile wasn't on the scene yet. Horse and carriage, bicycles, walking, sometimes on horseback, so they were really laid out as pleasure drives," said Swintosky.With the emergence of cars, they've taken over and caused safety issues. Metro Public Works is trying to bring that original concept to the forefront. 

"It certainly accommodates vehicles, it does not accommodate pedestrians or people on bicycles," said Swintosky. 

The survey was funded by grants and community partners. It started at the beginning of this year and should be finished by next summer. 

Gresham Smith is spearheading the survey. "We've done a lot of data collection, we've walked the corridor several times, we've done a lot of engineer inventory, we pulled crashes, we've pulled any type of safety concerns, we've pulled traffic data, we've run traffic analysis and then we've started talking to the public," said Mike Sewell who's an Owner at Gresham Smith.

Not only does Gresham Smith have engineers and architects on the project, but also historians, arborists and landscape architects. 

"When you think about what a parkway really means it's the tree canopy, it's how it makes you feel so making sure that all of those folks have a seat at the table and are taken seriously is critical I think on a project like this," said Sewell.

It's not just safety they're focusing on, but also updated drainage systems, more multi-use options and curb improvements. 

They held their first public input meeting recently with more to come. You can also go online right now where they have a interactive map that you can comment on.

Public Works says they'll announce their next meeting on Facebook

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