Crews will restore Muhammad Ali Boulevard and Chestnut Street to their original two-way design from before the 1960s.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) — A quick glance shows just how busy Muhammad Ali Boulevard and Chestnut Street are in west Louisville.
That activity is evident in the steady flow of traffic and the damage marked by barriers outside Reverend Gerald Joiner’s church.
“At least once a quarter, historically, individuals have a collision right there at the corner of 22nd and Muhammad Ali,” said Joiner, pastor at Zion Baptist Church. “One of those cars inadvertently will always be driven over and into our building.”
One church member was even hit in a past incident.
City leaders are introducing changes this summer aimed at improving safety. Both streets will return to two-way traffic, a move supported by the reverend and his congregation.
“We see this as a positive move in the right direction,” Joiner said. “It’s gonna force drivers to not use either one of those streets as a drag strip.”
Traffic speeds have already decreased in recent months.
Fifteen intersections along the two roads were converted to four-way stops, replacing traffic signals with flashing red lights, including at 18th and Muhammad Ali. Some of these intersections previously had only two-way stops.
Officials say these adjustments are part of a broader effort to improve safety.
“We’re very confident that this is going to do the main thing we want to do: Improve safety along these corridors,” said Michael King, assistant director of Louisville Metro’s Department of Transportation.
Kentucky State Police data shows crash numbers have not increased since the four-way stops were introduced late last year.
The plan will return the roads to their pre-1960s configuration. One-way traffic was originally implemented to move vehicles more quickly in and out of downtown.
However, officials say that change contributed to a divide between downtown and West Louisville.
“What that led to was a lot of disinvestment in a lot of neighborhoods, a lot of people driving really fast through a lot of neighborhoods, and deteriorating a little bit of the residential character of corridors like Muhammad Ali and Chestnut,” King said. “So with this project, we’ve tied this to the Reimagined 9th Street Project because one of the things we heard was with reimagined 9th Street, it’s very much sort of a division between West Louisville and downtown. So we wanted to fix that barrier.”
Members of Zion Baptist Church, now located between two new four-way stops, say the changes are already noticeable.
“I’ve noticed slower traffic,” Joiner said. “Since you’ve got stop signs there, it is forcing them to be more cognizant of where they are.”
While the long-term impact remains to be seen, Joiner believes the project will help restore the community.
“It’ll take us back to where we once were, I feel, as I look at the Russell Community,” he said.
Louisville Metro’s Department of Transportation plans to hold a public meeting in April to share more details about the project.
Construction is expected to begin this summer. Crews will repave and restripe the roads and install new signage, but no major structural changes are planned.
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