Louisville drivers are getting a sudden lesson in lane geometry on Broadway, where low concrete medians are narrowing the road near intersections just as the corridor is seeing a major safety overhaul. The new slabs are meant to organize traffic, but their unfinished appearance and abrupt placement have left some motorists wondering whether the cure is creating its own hazard.
The confusion intensified after two crashes on Thursday along the same stretch. WAVE News reported that a two-vehicle crash near 8th Street overturned one car and caused minor injuries, while a TARC bus and another vehicle collided near 4th and Broadway. Investigators have not confirmed whether either crash was connected to the new medians, though one nearby resident said the structures looked like an “accident waiting to happen.”
KYTC Says The Medians Are Part Of A Safety Project
The concrete work is part of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s US 150 Broadway Improvement Project, an HSIP-funded effort covering Broadway between 9th Street and Baxter Avenue. According to KYTC’s project page, the work also includes repaving, new pavement markings, updated signs and traffic-signal modifications.
The project is scheduled to unfold through the rest of the summer and fall, with paving and concrete construction expected to wrap up in late summer. For now, some of the medians remain surrounded by cones and open construction areas, making the final traffic pattern harder to read than it may be once the striping and signs are complete.
The Design Moves Cars Left Before Right Turns
In several locations, the new structures occupy portions of the outside lane near intersections, an area that drivers have long used for informal parking. That means motorists approaching a right turn may have to move left first, a maneuver WAVE News described as a source of driver confusion…