The Kennedy Interchange, known to locals as Spaghetti Junction, is the official meeting point of Interstates 64, 65 and 71 in downtown Louisville.
It’s also been ground zero of gridlock — the point where local commuter headaches originate, and flow outward, as traffic slows to a crawl or stops completely during peak hours.
So the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Walsh Construction Co., the Chicago-based contractor managing construction of the new downtown bridge, have their marching orders: Straighten it out.
Arguably the central objective of the entire Ohio River Bridges Project is to untangle Spaghetti Junction, thus removing the need for motorists to weave across several lanes of traffic where roads merge, causing safety hazards and bogged traffic.
Andy Barber, project manager of the bridges project for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, said the goal is to remove the “mashing” effect that occurs when the three interstates merge, creating a logjam and heightening safety problems.
“Prior to construction starting,” he said, “what we were living with was you had all northbound and southbound traffic on 64 and 71 get mashed together, go for a little bit, then get separated apart.
“What this project is doing is essentially collecting all northbound traffic to go north and collecting all southbound traffic to go south without smashing them all together first,” Barber said.
The Kennedy Interchange renovation is part of the $2.3 billion bridges project, the largest ongoing construction effort in the area that is tentatively set for completion late next year. The latest financial plan for the bridges project pegs the Spaghetti Junction reconstruction at $612.5 million.
The overall bridges project is varied in its approach and includes the Spaghetti Junction redo and construction of two new bridges: the downtown crossing, designed to improve traffic between downtown Louisville and Jeffersonville, and the East End Crossing, which will create a new cross-river connection linking Clark County, Ind., with eastern Jefferson County.
Kennedy Bridge renovation
Ultimately, the new downtown bridge will carry six lanes of northbound traffic and the Kennedy Bridge will carry six lanes southbound.
But once the new downtown bridge is done, which is expected in January, it temporarily will handle double duty as construction crews rehab the Kennedy.
All of the rehabilitation and bridge work is expected to be finished by the end of 2016.
The Kennedy dates to 1963, and its rehabilitation calls for replacing parallel and perpendicular beams that support the structure along with the installation of a new bridge surface.
Unclogging a bottleneck
One of the worst points in Spaghetti Junction is where traffic from I-64 westbound and I-71 southbound merges into I-65 northbound, a.k.a. the Kennedy Bridge entrance ramp.
That has been the source of recurring major backups during peak hours, said Nick Faul, an engineer and project manager for Walsh on the Kentucky side of the bridges project.
(WVB East End Partners is leading construction of the East End Crossing.)
Traffic from I-64 west and I-71 south currently must join in a single lane approaching the Kennedy, Faul said, but the new construction will create two dedicated lanes for 64 and one new lane for 71. Those lanes will taper as they join I-65 north.
A second traffic crunch
Another major problem in the current Spaghetti Junction scheme is the northbound 65 ramp that has been accessed from Liberty Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard downtown.
As Faul noted, a driver who needs to stay on 65 must cross lanes to the left; otherwise they’d be forced to exit onto 64 or 71. Likewise, motorists already on 65 who need to get to those exits must move several lanes to the right.
The new alignment will resolve that conundrum with a “collector-distributor” ramp from Liberty Street to just north of Main Street near Slugger Field, creating a total of six lanes of traffic.
Two lanes of mainline I-65 will be set aside specifically for I-65 north traffic, and a barrier will separate those lanes from the collector-distributor ramp, which will have four lanes that serve as decision points for drivers.
In effect, the collector-distributor ramp will gather traffic from one interstate and distribute it onto the other interstates.
Two lanes of that ramp will head east on I-64 or north on I-71, while the other two lanes will offer an option to go north on I-65 or west on I-64, Faul said.
Going south will be smoother
A four-lane collector-distributor ramp also will route traffic on southbound I-65.
Barber said a flyover ramp will be constructed from I-65 south to the Jefferson Street exit, separating downtown traffic from through traffic on the interstate.
The hope is that will make travel safer and reduce downtown congestion from mainline I-65.
The flyover ramp will merge with the collector-distributor ramp, with two lanes traveling along I-65 south and two lanes dedicated to downtown traffic.
The two dedicated lanes for I-65 south will be separated from the collector-distributor ramp, as they are on the northbound side.
Also on the southbound side, the exit ramps for I-64 east and west and I-71 north essentially will stay in the same place on the Kennedy Bridge.
But the ramp will be reconfigured with a three-lane exit instead of the one-lane exit that exists now, Faul said.
Story Avenue tweaks
The third major deficiency within the Kennedy interchange, as identified by Faul, is the point where the ramp from Story Avenue merges onto I-64 westbound.
Under the new alignment, a bridge will be built at Story Avenue that crosses I-64, and it will merge onto a two-lane ramp collecting Story Avenue traffic and I-64 west traffic, distributing them onto either I-65 north or south.
Under the current configuration, motorists who enter at Story and need to reach I-65 north must merge across several lanes of I-64 westbound traffic. That causes numerous backups during peak hours, Faul said, and eliminating the bottleneck should improve safety and ease major slowdowns.
Officials acknowledge that the changes around Story Avenue seem overwhelming on paper, but they believe the reconfigured interchange will have a natural flow. Signs will be there to direct motorists in advance.
“It’s going to be very intuitive,” said Mindy Peterson, a spokeswoman for the Ohio River Bridges Project.
Minding the logistics
One of the largest challenges in straightening out Spaghetti Junction, Barber said, is that 250,000 people travel through the interchange each day — but the roadway must remain in operation.
Two mainline lanes of interstate traffic must remain open during peak hours, though Walsh Construction can take it down to one lane between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., Barber said.
“It takes a lot of night work,” he said.
Another major tenet is that drivers must know what to expect. Barber said officials use the project’s website, Twitter page and other tools to notify users of closures or delays well in advance.
“There’s the engineering side, and there’s the communications side of it,” he said.
Barber said bridges project officials also have remained flexible to make sure Louisville remains open for business, for example by keeping Waterfront Park, the KFC Yum! Center and other downtown event hubs accessible.
And Walsh has been proactive, he said, in that anytime a ramp closure or lane closure is planned, the company has tried to schedule the work so it has the least amount of impact on downtown business.
For example, Peterson said, no temporary lane or ramp closures have been allowed during Thunder Over Louisville, the Kentucky Oaks or Kentucky Derby and major holidays. Long-term closures have continued during those times.
Bridges officials also do not expect massive disruptions in the downtown corridor or near Waterfront Park, though some lots and streets are closed and will remain closed because they are being used to stage construction equipment.
Two primary roads along the I-65 corridor will be affected by construction next year: River Road and Witherspoon Street. That’s because cranes will be placed along those areas, and some demolition will occur overhead.
Project costs
Downtown Crossing
$612.5 million
Kennedy Interchange
$308.2 million
Downtown bridge
$172.3 million
Downtown Indiana approach
$172.7 million
Kentucky other costs*
$1.27 billion
Total Downtown Crossing
East End Crossing
$511.1 million
Kentucky East End approach
$222.6 million
East End bridge
$224.3 million
Indiana East End approach
$99.8 million
Indiana other costs*
$1.06 billion
Total East End Crossing
Total cost
$2.32 billion
*Other costs include multiple elements, such as mitigation and enhancements not tied to specific sections, project development, general engineering fees and other professional fees and administrative expenses.
Source: Ohio River Bridges project financial plan: http://kyinbridges.com/schedule-cost/
Other construction/traffic highlights of the Ohio River Bridges Project
On the Kentucky side:
- Ramp from I-64 East to I-65 South closed through the spring of 2016.
- Ramp from Liberty Street to I-65 North is closed.
- I-65 North from Muhammad Ali Boulevard to Witherspoon Street reduced to two through lanes of traffic, with the right lane a mandatory exit to Muhammad Ali Boulevard into 2015.
- Right lane of I-65 South from the Jefferson Street ramp to Muhammad Ali Boulevard closed through 2016.
On the Indiana side:
- I-65 South and I-65 North reduced to two through lanes of traffic from the Kennedy Bridge to Brown’s Station Way through late 2016.
- I-65 North and I-65 South reduced to three through lanes of traffic from around mile marker 1.5 to mile marker 3.5 (near Brown’s Station Way to just south of Veterans Parkway). The restrictions are expected to continue through mid-September.
- No direct access to I-65 North from the Clark Memorial Bridge. U.S. 31 North traffic must exit onto Court Avenue. Drivers who want to access I-65 North are directed to the 10th Street ramp. A signed detour is in place.
- Ramp from U.S. 31 South to Court Avenue is closed through September. Drivers don’t have direct access to Court Avenue or the Clark Memorial Bridge.