Second Street Bridge,
Constitutionally Protected Civil Rights &
KY Transportation Cabinet

For the first time in decades Clark Memorial Bridge ( Second Street Bridge ) will be open to Pedestrians and Bicyclists the week of Thunder - thanks to the efforts of Safe Streets Louisville & Bicycling for Louisville.

Media accounts of the Second Street Bridge Campaign are found on the Bike Couriers Bike Shop website / Advocacy / Media - Check the April 2009 entries

For twenty years pedestrians and cyclists had been annually denied the constitutionally guaranteed civil right to cross a state line with the closure of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge. Clark Memorial Bridge carries US 31 across the Ohio River between Louisville, Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana. It is also the only option pedestrians and cyclists have to get between Kentucky and Indiana within 39 miles. For four days every year the bridge is closed to traffic in preparations for a large fireworks display hosted by the Kentucky Derby Festival. In the words of Fox 41 News…The Kentucky Derby Festival didn't just wake up one day and decide a bike/pedestrian shuttle was a good idea. Jackie Green co-owns (three bike shops and) a company which delivers documents by bicycle. The yearly Second Street Bridge Thunder closing prevents his couriers from making Indiana deliveries.... A lot more people walk or bike across the Second Street Bridge each day than you might think -- and not just for exercise. Many depend on the bridge to get to work in Kentucky and Indiana. And, a little research revealed the bridge closing was likely illegal. "It is a civil right to cross a state line," Green says. "Folks who do not own cars, whose travel is done by foot or by bicycle, were denied their constitutional right, and that was the leverage we used to open up the discussion." Or, as put by Bicycling for Louisville's Executive Director…”Jackie Green threatened to sue state and local agencies over the closure of the Clark Memorial Bridge. His lawsuit resulted in meetings with a representative of the Mayor along with top management of Kentucky Derby Festival”, legal council, and two citizen organizations, Safe Streets Louisville and Bicycling for Louisville. The negotiations resulted in Kentucky Derby Festival providing a van equipped with a bike rack and driver. The van shuttled pedestrians and cyclists in both directions for the four days. While not without hitches (which the negotiators are already improving upon), the free shuttle was a great success. The lessons learned are simple. Pedestrians and cyclists should not wait twenty years to assert themselves. Partner with your mayor, citizen organizations, and with those thought to be on the “other side of the table”. Realizing that we are all on the same side of the table enables all of us to get to the other side of the river.

This policy change is the result of Safe Streets Louisville (www.safestreetslouisville.org) asking tough questions in hard negotiations and Bicycling for Louisville's more moderate negotiation approach. Attorney Anna Murray completed the trio in efforts to reach an agreement.

The question that made this access possible was:
Has KY Transportation Cabinet for decades been violating the constitutionally protected civil right to cross a state line each time they close Second Street (Clark Memorial) Bridge the four days preceding Thunder?

Thanks are extended to the Mayor's office for constructive participation in negotiating this passage across 2nd St Bridge.

2009 Meetings
March 18 - KY Derby Festival office
Mike Maloney (Special Events Coordinator, Metro Mayor's Office)
Jeff English (VP Administration, KY Derby Festival)
Matt Gibson (VP of Events, KY Derby Festival)
Wayne Hettinger (Thunder Producer, KY Derby Festival)
Anna Murray (Safe Streets Louisville attorney)
Barry Zalph (Executive Director, Bicycling for Louisville)
Jackie Green (a Safe Streets Louisville spokesperson)

February 27 - Mayor's Conference Room
Mike Maloney (Special Events Coordinator, Metro Mayor's Office)
Matt Gibson (VP of Events, KY Derby Festival)
Wayne Hettinger (Thunder Producer, KY Derby Festival)
Anna Murray (Safe Streets Louisville attorney)
Barry Zalph (Executive Director, Bicycling for Louisville)
Jackie Green (a Safe Streets Louisville spokesperson)

Outstanding Questions
- KY Derby Festival insists on keeping the Clark Memorial Bridge closed until the debris (casings, sulphur, magnesium, packing, etc. that does not land in the Ohio River) strewn across the sidewalks and roadway of the Clark Memorial Bridge during the firing of Thunder ordinances is cleaned up, live fires extinquished and live/unexploded ordinance is removed from the bridge.
- the advocates are not authorized to negotiate away the constitutional rights of any pedestrian or cyclist
- any pedestrian or cyclist might legally challenge KY Transportation Cabinet's closing the bridge
- the advocates want cross river access 24/7 by Thunder 2010 on either the Big Four Bridge, the K&I Bridge or the Clark Memorial Bridge

History of Contacts Made
February 12 (Louisville's Bike Summit II)
Lynn Soporowski - KY Transportation Cabinet - Frankfort
David Tipton - KY Transportation Cabinet - Frankfort - State Bike/Ped Coordinator
Mike Maloney - Community Relations and Special Events Coordinator, Metro Mayor's Office
Mary Lou Marzian - Metro Deputy Mayor
Dirk Gowin - Metro Pubic Works/BikePed
Vickie Aubrey - Metro Councilwoman
Scott Render - Metro Mayors Office
Barry Zalph - Executive Director, Bicycling for Louisville
and others were informed of Ms. Murray's phone call to KYTC - Louisville.

February 11
Anna Murray (attorney) contacted KY Transportation Cabinet - Louisville - Debbie Mathis - sec to KYTC Chief District Engineer