Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Loueyville Fun Fact of the Day: Love the Tunnel

While trying to discover what year Cherokee Park was created (A: depends on what kind of date you're looking for but it opened in 1892), I came across this fun fact:

You know the tunnel just before/after the Grinstead exit on I-64? Roomate calls it "my" tunnel because I hate tunnels, and it leads to "my" exit. Well, it's actually called the Cochran Hill Tunnel, and it is one of three sites in Kentucky listed on US Department of Transportation/Federal Highway Administration's list of "Nationally and Exceptionally Significant Features of the Federal Highway System." I'll let the website do the explaining:

The Cochran Hill Tunnel, on the east and west sides of I-64, is of exceptional significance to the development of environmentally sensitive design in the area of transportation engineering. These underground tunnels were constructed in 1974 to preserve the National Register site directly above the highway. The site is Cherokee Park, a verdant landscape designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, which is part of the larger Olmstead Park system in Louisville. Kentucky Highway engineers and Vollmer Associates, Inc., in consultation with the general public, developed these environmentally sensitive tunnels to avoid destroying the important Olmstead landscape. These unique, groundbreaking tunnels were the first attempts to ameliorate the effects of highway construction on a Kentucky roadway.

Well done, Loueyville.

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