WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | I-65 construction to cause delays for commuters, schools

I-65 construction to cause delays for commuters, schools

By Shayla Reaves - bio | email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE)- The Revive 65 construction project officially starts Monday night, shutting down parts of the interstate between Fern Valley Road and the Watterson Expressway interchange. Prep work got underway this weekend.

This weekend construction crews shut down a single lane of I-65, bringing their barrier walls to prepare for work to come. At issue is a 3-mile stretch between Fern Valley Road and the Watterson Expressway interchange. It's a section targeted for repair as part of the Revive 65 project. It starts Monday night at 8 p.m. with lane closures expected until the work is completed in mid-December.

"We're going to be probably late in some areas, we're not sure how late," JCPS Transportation Director Rick Caple said of the county's school buses headed of Tuesday morning.

Work includes replacement of concrete pavement with asphalt, the first major project for this stretch of road in 21 years. It includes reducing five lanes of traffic to three and in some places, fewer than that, for work scheduled 24 hours a day seven days a week.

"Between Grade Lane and all the way through the Watterson interchange will be down to two lanes," Kentucky Department of Transportation spokesperson Andrea Clifford said."Anybody who has driven out there knows the concrete slabs have settled unevenly."

Side streets are now the biggest concern for getting students to school by bus.

"I think Preston Highway is our biggest area because it is our easiest alternative road especially people in Louisville get off and try to do a road that's parallel to I-65," Caple said.

Caple said schools near construction have already been contacted and there's a message JCPS officials want parents of bus-riding students to know for Tuesday.

"We won't be early, we may be late. The routes are going to run whether we are 5 minutes late, 10 minutes late, hopefully we won't have any but 30 minutes late," he said. " We can't bypass so we have to go though every street. It's not like going to work where you can bypass a street. We've got to go down through those streets and pick up students."

Caple said schools that could be impacted by I-65 construction traffic changes include Okolona Elementary, Moore Traditional High School, Moore Traditional Middle School, Smyrna Elementary and Southern High school.

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