Kennedy Interchange - History

History

The Kennedy Interchange was designed by Barstow, Mulligan and Vollmer, a New York firm. Construction began in the spring of 1962 and when it was complete, the design was adequate to handle the traffic needs of the time. Henry Ward, a member of the Louisville Chamber of Commerce in 1958, lobbied in Frankfort to Highway Commissioner Ward Oates to have I-65 (and other interstates) routed through downtown Louisville. At that time, Henry Ward, who would later become the state Highway Commissioner from 1960 to 1967, stated that "downtown Louisville felt it would be disastrous for it to be bypassed by the interstate." There was tremendous pressure from both sides to push the interstate highway system through downtown. Later on in 1996, he reflected back and stated that, "... it was a mistake. I think downtown Louisville would have been better off if Interstate 65 had not been located where it is."

However, traffic was not as bad then as it is now. The projections for traffic was nowhere close to 300,000, or what passes through the Kennedy Interchange that was only designed for a maximum capacity of 100,000.

In 1996, the Ohio River Major Investment Study suggested rebuilding the Kennedy Interchange at a cost of $120.5 million. It stated that during rush hour, traffic congests at the interchange causing pollution and creating potential accidents since it has a high crash rate. From 1996 to 1998, there were 261 crashes for every 100 million miles traveled within the Kennedy Interchange, 172% higher than the state average. The study recommended that two new bridges be constructed, one downtown and one linking the two segments of I-265. In 1997, U.S. Representatives Anne Northup and Lee H. Hamilton, two local politicians, secured $40 million for an environmental impact study (EIS) that was completed in 2002. This allowed design of the new junction and bridges to commence.