The street and circulation network must serve a multitude of functions. While it must move vehicles and pedestrians in and around the Downtown, its streets and boulevards also serve as the front door for its retail business establishments, and a strong retail sector is an important component of Downtown. In addition, the Downtown streets provide the “address” for those people living Downtown, and there must be value in this address in order for people to be willing to invest in Downtown housing.

Downtown Louisville’s street environment has flourished in the last two decades, creating a welcoming and inviting place for workers and visitors. Downtown’s employment base and residential population have increased in part due to our ease of circulation.

 

Louisville International ranks third in North America—and seventh in the world—in the total amount of cargo handled as home of UPS's international air-sorting hub. The airport handled almost 4.3 billion pounds of cargo, freight and mail in 2009.

Louisville International is situated on 1,200 acres. The passenger terminals comprise more than 360,000 sq. ft. and have 23 boarding gates. The airport offers 5,625 public parking spaces — including a 4-level parking garage, with 3 levels under cover.

The airport consists of 2 parallel runways, one crosswind runway and more than 62,000 linear feet of taxiways. Aircraft operations (take offs and landings) totaled 146,492 in 2009.

UPS’s Worldport is located at the Louisville International Airport. Worldport is the largest fully automated package handling facility in the world. Today, at UPS Worldport’s 5.2 million square foot facility, UPS turns over 130 aircraft per day in Louisville. At its Worldport facility in Louisville, UPS handles an impressive volume: 438 million packages per year, 1.2 million packages per day, 416,000 packages per hour, 6933 packages per minute, and 115 packages per second.

The location of UPS’ Worldport at the Louisville International Airport has cemented Louisville’s strength in the logistics industry.

 

Biking Downtown

Downtown Louisville has taken major moves to become bicycle friendly, with bicycle shops, dedicated bike paths and shared bike lanes. Louisville Metro’s 2010 Bike Master Plan has as its two primary goals, to increase bicycling activity throughout all parts of Louisville by making it a fun, comfortable and accessible mode of travel between 2010 and 2030; and to simultaneously reduce the number of cyclists killed and injured in crashes with motor vehicles.

Bike Louisville:   http://www.louisvilleky.gov/BikeLouisville
Bicycling for Louisville: http://www.bicyclingforlouisville.org/ 
Bicycling for Louisville is our region’s only bicycle advocacy organization with a paid staff, dedicating the time, energy and resources needed to make Louisville and the surrounding region a safe and fun place to bicycle.

To map a route to bicycle in Louisville: http://www.ridethecity.com/louisville

 

TARC

Established in 1974, the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) provides safe, courteous and comfortable public transportation in Louisville, Kentucky and surrounding counties. TARC's mission is to explore and implement transportation opportunities that enhance the social, economic and environmental well being of the greater Louisville community. The new Hybrid Buss is pictured here.

Trolley

http://www.ridetarc.org/uploadedFiles/Footer_Navigation/Resource_Library/downtown%20trolleys%20map.pdf

Louie Link

Dirctional signage, called Louie Link is installed throughout the skywalk system that stretches some six city blocks and connects 2,300 hotel room, 7,100 parking spaces and 300,000 square feet of event space with access to hundreds of businesses along the way, not to mention the new KFC Yum! Center.

 

Ohio River

Located just west of Downtown Louisville along the Ohio River, the McAlpine Locks and Dam sees thousands of barges pass through each year, transporting over 12 billion dollars worth of commodities. From coal and iron, to chemicals and grain, the Ohio River supplies nine states with the resources needed to support a myriad of industries. As of 2008, coal, iron, and petroleum represented 61% of the total quantity of goods shipped through the McAlpine Locks and Dam. The volume of these commodities passing through Louisville is as impressive as their net worth – nearly 59 million tons annually. To put this in perspective, it would take over 2.3 million 18 wheeler trucks to transport 59 million tons of goods, while it would only take 33,700 barges. Hence, cities like Louisville, which offer a variety of transportation options to its industries, not only attract a wider variety of companies, but only ease congestion on their local interstates as well.  

Parking

There are over 15,000 public garage parking spaces in Downtown, excluding surface parking, private parking and on-street parking. The garage structures are widely dispersed throughout the Central Business district and provide convenient, very affordable monthly and transient options. In addition to the summary of parking included on this page, the Downtown Management District provides additional information on their website about downtown parking, including: