Parkways of Louisville, Kentucky

Algonquin Parkway connects the Western parkways to Southern and Eastern Parkways via Third Street, cutting east-to-west across the city. The last of the parkways to be finished,[5] Algonquin was partially completed in 1928 by the Carey-Reed Company of Lexington at an initial cost of $120,000 with a width of just 20 feet (6.1 m) at the time, although space was reserved for widening once the area became more developed. When it opened it ran from Winkler Avenue to the Kentucky State Fairgrounds.[6] The widening was finished in the late 1930s by workers for the Works Progress Administration.[7]

Algonquin has been cited as the "most extreme" example of a parkway that has deviated from the original plan, due to a junkyard that is located alongside it.[5]

Eastern Parkway begins at an intersection with Third Street in the Belknap (main) campus of the University of Louisville. This portion ends a few blocks from Southern Parkway, and is a key gap between the parkways that has never been filled in. The portion through the University of Louisville campus was initially just two lanes, creating a major traffic bottleneck. This portion was replaced with a viaduct which passes over the campus, completed in October 1954 at a cost of $850,000.[8] The viaduct was opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by mayor Broaddus, who then got into his car to become the first to drive over it. However, two vehicles competing to be the second collided, creating a wreck within seconds of the road's opening.[9] Today, the parkway has one vehicular lane in each direction, plus painted bicycle gutters, through campus, widening to four lanes immediately east of the viaduct.

East of the university, there is an interchange with Interstate 65, and past that the parkway takes on a more residential feel for the rest of the route, with houses and apartment buildings on either side, except for near major intersections. The parkway passes over a concrete channel Beargrass Creek on an overpass built in 1961.[10]

From Barrett to Baxter Avenue, the parkway is divided by a grassy median with mature trees. The final stretch of the parkway, past Bardstown Road, is the only two-lane portion outside of the U of L campus, although it is very wide, to allow for on-street parking. Eastern Parkway ends in a roundabout at the entrance to Cherokee Park, at the center of which is a 1906 statue of Daniel Boone made by Enid Yandell. Eastern Parkway is signed as US 60 from Third Street to Willow Avenue, nearly the entire length of the parkway.

The right-of-way for Eastern Parkway is 100 feet (30 m) wide, and initial development of it was completed in late 1913. A long portion of the route was donated by John Breckinridge Castleman, accounting for the sharp jog at the Baxter Avenue intersection.[2] Parkway Field took its name from and was located beside Eastern Parkway from 1926 until 2002.[11]

The entire length of Eastern Parkway is signed as Alternate US 60, as US 60 followed the Parkway through the city before a bypass, I-264, was created. Eastern Parkway has an interchange with Interstate 65.

Parkways Of Louisville

Although Eastern Parkway was intended as a recreational road, it is the only direct connector between the populous Highlands and Germantown sections of Louisville and mid-city destinations like the University of Louisville's main campus. As such, it has had problems associated with a road carrying much more traffic than it was designed for since at least the 1950s, when the intersection with Third Street consistently led the state of Kentucky in number of crashes per year at a single intersection. Various proposals have been made to improve safety on the road, including reducing it to three vehicle lanes and two bike lanes. Narrowing proposals were last made in 2006, although the plan was rejected since the traffic volume at the time, 21,000 vehicles per day, was too much for three lanes.[12]

Northwestern and Southwestern Parkways were initially called just Western Parkway. A large amount of the right-of-way was donated by Democratic Party boss John Henry Whallen, who made his residence near what is now Chickasaw Park.[2]

First called Grand Boulevard, Southern Parkway runs from near Churchill Downs to the entrance to Iroquois Park. It begins at third street, near the Eastern Parkway intersection, and the two parkways can easily be combined to connect Iroquois to Cherokee Park.

It was renamed Southern Parkway on June 6, 1893, and opened to the public eight days later.[2]