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Wednesday, January 16, 2008
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By
Bill Pike bpike@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal |
Preston Corridor Planning Group members, from left, Dorn Crawford, Mary Rose Evans, Liz Martin and Robbie Gibson stood in front of the new wall mural on Preston Highway, just south of Audubon Parkway. |
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After living in Belmar
for 18 years, Betty
Clark came to pay little
attention to a dingy
railroad overpass near
her home when she drove
under it. Then the overpass was spiffed up.  "You noticed the difference real quick, especially if you drive through there a lot. It had been dark and looked awful under there," Clark said, referring to a Norfolk Southern trestle over Preston Highway near Audubon Park. Metro officials and the Preston Corridor Planning Group -- consisting of residents, business people and others -- had murals painted on abutments that help support the overpass. The murals, painted about a month ago, depict iris and dogwood blossoms, cardinals and bluebirds. The overpass itself will be painted soon, said Rob Holtzmann, aide to Metro Councilman Jim King, of the 10th District, which includes the area. The Norfolk and Southern overpass above Belmar Drive also was improved and painted "goldenrod," Holtzmann said. Clark said the Belmar Drive trestle had been rusty and looked "even worse" than the one on Preston. The paint job, finished about three weeks ago, also reflected the fact that its tracks divide two neighborhoods. Eastbound drivers on Belmar see "Welcome to the Camp Zachary Taylor Neighborhood" painted on one side of the trestle. Westbound drivers see "Welcome to the Belmar Neighborhood" on the other side. "It was a unique opportunity to welcome people to two neighborhoods," Holtzmann said. The Belmar and Camp Zachary Taylor neighborhood associations had asked for the trestle improvements. King provided $12,000 from his discretionary fund to pay for the Belmar job. The Preston job will cost $93,000, including $13,000 from King's fund and $80,000 from a state grant. The Rueff Sign Co. is expected to finish the Preston trestle paint job soon, weather permitting. Plans call for the Louisville skyline, horses, a big baseball bat and boxing gloves to evoke Muhammad Ali on the side of the viaduct facing northbound traffic. The other side will have a trolley, fleur de lis, cardinal bird and the old Spring Garden School. Long ago the area was called Spring Garden, Holtzmann said. The Preston job will mark the end of the first phase of long-range efforts to improve Preston Highway between the Watterson Expressway and Eastern Parkway. Metro officials and the Preston Corridor Group together designed the improvements. The group included representatives from the cities of Parkway Village and Audubon Park and the Belmar and St. Joseph neighborhood associations. Costing about $500,000 and several years in the works, the first phase included new sidewalks, benches and streetlamps on Preston between Phillips and Hess lanes. It also included brick pavers between sidewalks and Preston. "It's made the area more pedestrian-friendly and more inviting. You see more people walking," said Liz Martin, president of the corridor group and the Belmar association. Holtzmann said the design of the second phase could begin in a year. That phase would address Preston between Hess Lane and Eastern Parkway. The third phase, between Phillips Lane and the Watterson, would follow. "This area is taking a turn after 40 years of neglect," Martin said. "It's uplifting. We feel like we've been listened to." Reporter Bill Pike can be reached at (502) 582-4243. COVER PHOTO: Neighborhood leaders, from left, Dorn Crawford, Mary Rose Evans, Liz Martin and Robbie Gibson posed in front of the mural.  (Photos by Bill Luster, The Courier-Journal) |
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