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New Albany Street Network Redesign

New Albany, IN, USA

2017 Kentucky-Indiana Transportation Award from Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency (KIPDA)

E Spring Street, converted to a two-way street.

Client

City of New Albany

Collaborators

Arup

Timeline

2014 - 2017

Category

Streets & Networks

Budget

$4.3 million

Scale

950 acres

Status

Completed

Reference

Jeff Gahan, Mayor,
mayor@cityofnewalbany.com

“There are more people walking around... I see more people walking dogs, strolling with babies, running, eating dinner, etc... downtown on sidewalks and in the streets.”  

— Kate Rosenbarger, New Albany Resident

Speck Dempsey (then Speck & Associates) was hired by the City of New Albany to redesign its street network in the face of a new tolling regime that was going to induce large amounts of cut-through traffic to access the one free bridge across the Ohio River. The City’s current street network was well over capacity and mostly one-way, enticing speeding. The plan reverted all streets to two-way, reduced their capacity to equal current volumes, and introduced a comprehensive system of bike lanes to absorb additional pavement and attract cycling.


For several years, the City studied and doctored the plan, which many considered too radical. A local engineering firm, conducting peer review, removed many of the bike lanes. However, the two-way reversions were ultimately approved, and the entire plan was implemented during the summer of 2017 at a cost of $4.3 million, two thirds of which was federally funded.


Since the reversion, new restaurants and apartments have come to downtown, and the City reports that speeding, crashes, and pedestrian injuries are all well down, as are emergency response times. Police chief Todd Bailey reports that he has “never seen a better scenario for public safety.”

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