8664 today released polling data indicating strong community support for an east end bridge in Louisville. The poll of 500 Jefferson County registered voters was conducted January 21 – 24, 2008 by FREDERICKpolls of Arlington, Virginia and has a margin of error of +/- 4.3%.
“Despite what you might read in the Courier-Journal’s Forum section, the East End Bridge continues to be the least expensive and most widely supported portion of the Bridges Project on both sides of the river. The facts just don’t support the Downtown Bridge and Spaghetti Junction expansion,” said 8664 co-founder JC Stites.
From the polling memo:
“By 66% to 27%, more metro Louisville voters say the most important bridge priority is to build a new East-end bridge, not a downtown bridge. In the East-end, preference for an east river crossing jumps to 76-20. Meanwhile, majorities in South and Central parts of the county also prioritize an East-end bridge first and even in West Louisville, more support on an East-end bridge than a downtown bridge.”
Tyler Allen said the organization collected the data last year for internal purposes, but decided to share findings now because there “seems to be a concerted effort to distort the facts about the Bridges Project.” He went on to say, “We fully expect the Courier-Journal’s editorial board to try to discredit this information, so we would gladly split the cost of commissioning a new poll to assess the public’s opinion on this $4.1 Billion project that will shape our city for generations.”
Other findings:
- 86% said an east end bridge is more of a good idea “because it will provide a by-pass around Louisville” than say it is a bad idea
- 72% have a positive reaction to a transportation plan that includes building “an east-end bridge to connect (I-265 in Kentucky to I-265 in Indiana.”
- 74% are positive toward a transportation plan that “simplifies Spaghetti Junction and eliminates the bottlenecks associated with weaving traffic.”
- 59% would make fixing the Spaghetti Junction interchange a priority in any transportation plan that is implemented.
Click here for a copy of the polling memo. (Warning: PDF Link)
16 responses so far ↓
1 Bruce Maples // Jul 23, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Let’s see — here are our two choices:
1. Build the EE bridge for a little under $1 billion, then do a new traffic study to see if we still need a new downtown bridge. (Oh, and begin using the EE bridge YEARS sooner.)
2. Wait till we can figure out where to get $4 billion, plus whatever extra money is needed, THEN wait at least 14 years to get everything built, all the while tearing up downtown, destroying a large section of Butchertown, and putting a concrete roof on the Great Lawn. Oh, and don’t forget the tolls on every bridge in sight.
The choice seems pretty obvious to me.
2 jake // Jul 23, 2009 at 1:34 pm
America hater!
3 Curt Morrison // Jul 23, 2009 at 1:56 pm
jake- Good work.
Bruce-Agreed
4 James Moore // Jul 23, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Read my lips: No new tolls.
5 James Moore // Jul 23, 2009 at 1:58 pm
..and btw: Now that we’ve gotten King Jerry out of the way, we need a strong mayoral candidate who will strongly support the 8664 vision for the resurrection of downtown Louisville…
6 jake // Jul 23, 2009 at 1:59 pm
That rules out David Tandy.
7 James Moore // Jul 23, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Ja, well , I like David, but his position on bridges and tolls is indeed a show-stopper for me. I know an awful lot of people who are hungry for a candidate whose vision includes development of a vibrant, business-oriented downtown – not a paved- over mess of expensive concrete.
8 jake // Jul 23, 2009 at 2:15 pm
I’m apt to support David if he’s the only candidate the good old boys don’t try to get money out of of.
9 Conservative // Jul 23, 2009 at 2:24 pm
This isn’t an either/or thing, as the poll indicates.
Of course a new east end bridge is, and should be, a priority.
But after that bridge is built, it might obviate the need for a second bridge downtown. But that still wouldn’t justify something as radical as 8664.
10 jake // Jul 23, 2009 at 2:27 pm
8664 aside, I think we should build three bridges.
East End.
Downtown.
Southwest.
11 Steve Bittenbender // Jul 23, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Jake,
A southwest bridge literally would be a bridge to nowhere. There’s no development down there, aside from the Horseshoe, and unless feelings have changed recently, the few folks in that part of Harrison County don’t want the bridge.
I’ve already stated my feelings on the bridges project. Of course the East End bridge is going to be the most desired. Anyone with a current local highway map and some common sense would be able to tell you that.
12 jake // Jul 23, 2009 at 2:58 pm
True. But it could spur development.
13 tony // Jul 23, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Listen to me…You can not have one and than the other. It’s all 1 project. 2 birdges and a redo of spaghetti junction, all at once. That’s it, take it or leave it.
What a bad pole, first it’s 1 1/2 years old and any pole with a margin of error over +/- 3 isn’t worth anything..
What a wast of money by 8664, of course you’d get that answer. In fact you probablly can’t find many public officials saying downtown is more important. The realilty is that they are BOTH imporant to overall growth of the region.
14 Bruce Maples // Jul 24, 2009 at 12:23 am
Tony — said it before, say it again — just because they’re all tied together now, doesn’t mean they have to stay that way.
And note — 8664 said they would split the cost of a new poll with the C-J to guage the public’s reaction now.
They would get the same result now — build the EE bridge first and soon.
15 Conservative // Jul 24, 2009 at 1:22 am
Of course they can’t do both at the same time, because that would be an absolute nightmare, but I’ll guarantee you that once the east bridge is built, if Kentucky and Indiana want to, they can find a way to drop the new downtown bridge.
16 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // Jul 24, 2009 at 10:19 am
At any rate, the East End bridge must be built first, as we have to consider the “construction hell” that _will_ happen downtown. The downtown congestion would obviously be lessened once the East End bridge is in operation. And we might even, at least technically, obviate the need for a second I-65 bridge (despite what politicians force us to do anyway).
But here’s the rub: The so-called “final” federal Record of Decision can indeed be forced open, and River Fields has essentially threatened to do so ostensibly to examine the environmental impact of tolling plazas, but in my estimation it will really be about performing a switcheroo on the construction schedule, putting downtown ahead of the East End bridge, which they continue to want to prevent.
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