Louisville Parks and Sustainability Committee Holds Special Discussion on Louisville Loop – August 20, 2026
Louisville Parks and Sustainability Committee Holds Special Discussion on Louisville Loop – August 20, 2026
The Louisville Metro Government Parks and Sustainability Committee met on Thursday, August 20, 2026, at 3:00 PM in Council Chambers and via video teleconference, with Chair Khalil Batshon (R-25) presiding pursuant to KRS 61.826 and Council Rule 5A. The only substantive agenda item was a special discussion (ID 26-1118) on the Louisville Loop, the planned 100-mile shared-use path network around Jefferson County. The two pending legislative items on the agenda—O-108-26 (permitting foraging of certain plant material in Metro Parks) and R-142-25 (urging implementation of the Urban Forest Master Plan)—were held without discussion. Members present were Vice Chair Paula McCraney (I-7, virtual), Anthony Piagentini (R-19), Jennifer Chappell (D-15), Crystal Bast (R-14), Betsy Ruhe (D-21), and Chair Batshon.
Discussion Items
Louisville Loop Special Discussion (ID 26-1118)
- Wes Sidnore, Executive Director of Public Works, and Jason Canwell, Director of Louisville Parks and Recreation, presented on behalf of a multi-department Loop team. (Note: the agenda listed Kristal Atkinson and Mike King of Public Works and Michelle King, Christie Batista Choate, and John Studer of Metro Parks as presenters; the transcript identifies the actual speakers as Sidnore and Canwell.)
- The Loop is envisioned as a 100-mile, ADA-accessible, paved shared-use path encircling the county. Approximately 50 miles of the plan are complete, with roughly 50 miles remaining.
- A public awareness and engagement survey launched the prior day had already drawn close to 80 responses in about 24 hours.
- Projects under construction include the Middletown Eastwood Trail (MET), which will connect the Parklands to Old Shelbyville Road, and the River Road widening—a 30-plus-year project—which will complete a Loop segment along River Road.
- The Jefferson Memorial Forest section is in design and split into four segments, running from Pendleton Road north across (in the transcript's words) "Mormon Hill" to Pond Creek. Most of the property is Metro-owned, though a handful of easements and right-of-way issues remain.
- Maintenance: Metro Parks maintains 31 miles of the Loop with a three-person crew that also covers Jefferson Memorial Forest natural areas, while the Parklands maintains 19.5 miles with 10 staff. Metro sweeps its Loop mileage about once a month; the Parklands sweeps double or triple that often.
- A Loop section between Portland Wharf and Shawnee golf course has been closed for years due to frequent flooding, washouts, and 3–4 feet of sediment buildup in places.
- Staff cited renewed momentum since 2025: weekly cross-department subcommittees, a draft Loop charter, a planned community bike ride, an active survey, and a first-time collaboration in which Public Works crews helped Metro Parks with paving this week.
Council Questions and Discussion
- Chair Batshon asked about deferred maintenance. Staff said no total has been calculated, but most existing asphalt is 20–25 years old, and the section from the Big Four Bridge down to Farnsley-Moremen is nearing the point where repaving will be needed at significant cost. Asked how much land acquisition remains, staff said most of what is left is in the hardest sections to build, with no immediate number available; Batshon requested that cost and acquisition figures be provided to the committee.
- Councilman Piagentini praised the Middletown connection in his former district and asked about crossing Floyd's Fork. John Swantowski, Senior Landscape Architect with the Louisville Department of Transportation, explained that the old US 60 bridge—a 1920s concrete arch with split Commonwealth/private ownership—has been deemed beyond repair. A new bridge will need to be built between the highway and the existing structure, with scope, fees, and funding now being negotiated. The Eastwood-to-Parklands connection is nearing the end of its right-of-way phase and may be the next segment to go to construction. Piagentini also said he is requesting estimates to close sidewalk gaps near Beckley and northern Shelbyville Road so neighborhoods can reach the Loop on foot.
- Councilwoman Ruhe, who noted she has followed the Loop since 2005 (calling it the "Louis Loop"), asked about a spur at the University of Louisville, which staff confirmed is part of the parkway system. She flagged flooding, mud, and illegal dumping at Pond Creek and Mill Creek, and relayed that a Portland friend has gotten three flat tires at the Norfolk Southern railroad crossing by the river. Staff said they are working with Norfolk Southern to potentially rebuild the crossing, though railroad right-of-way work is difficult.
- Councilwoman Bast voiced concern that Metro Parks is already stretched thin by deferred maintenance and suggested seeking local businesses to "adopt miles" of the Loop. She reported safety and maintenance problems in southwest Jefferson County: mowing crews knocking people off the trail, illegal ATV/dirt bike and motorcycle use (including a fatal ATV incident near the LG&E plant a few years ago), loose dogs, broken benches, non-working water fountains, and graffiti. Asked how the Loop will cross Dixie Highway, staff said the preferred option is an above-grade bridge (citing an Indianapolis example), with an at-grade crossing the least desirable. Bast noted the racetrack-area corridor has 100+ mph traffic and no lights, and that she has asked KYTC for infrastructure changes.
Staff Recognition
- The committee honored John Swantowski for more than 30 years of work on the Louisville Loop as he retires at the end of August 2026. Swantowski spoke of his 20-plus years at Metro Parks and 8 at Public Works, described the Loop as a "ring" or "crown" connecting the community for human-powered movement, and cited a Parks Alliance survey in which multi-use trails ranked as the top community priority in every demographic.
Pending Legislation (Held)
- O-108-26, an ordinance amending LMCO Section 42.31 to permit foraging of certain plant material in Metro Parks (sponsored by JP Lyninger, D-6), was held.
- R-142-25, a resolution urging implementation of the Urban Forest Master Plan (sponsored by Jennifer Chappell, D-15, with co-sponsors), was held.
Key Outcomes
- No votes were taken; the committee took no formal action on the Louisville Loop.
- Staff agreed to provide the committee with estimated figures on remaining land acquisition and deferred maintenance/repaving costs.
- Staff encouraged residents to report Loop maintenance issues such as potholes, graffiti, and damage through the 311 app.
- The Loop team will continue subcommittee work, survey analysis, and outreach including a planned community bike ride, and will return for further conversations with the committee.
Meeting Transcript
What days today? Thursday the 20th. This meeting is being held pursuant to KRS 61.826 and Council Rule 5A. We have a three items on agenda, two of them are being held, and we only have a special discussion today in regards to the Louisville Loop. So we have anybody here to speak on that. We do. Can we get in a name and for everything for the record? Yeah. I'm Wes Sidnore. I'm the uh executive director of public works. My name is Jason Canwell, the director at Louisville Parks and Recreation. Awesome. Well, I'll start with uh there is a huge and excited team behind me that I don't think this is everyone, actually. So there is a lot of energy around the Louisville Loop. Um, one of the things that a lot of us ask when we go into places is uh first of all, are you aware of the Louis of the Loop? I would I would hope that uh everyone on this this committee and uh this council is aware of it. Um not to not to jump ahead, but uh one of the uh one of the things that we've done over the last actually yesterday was send out a a survey through our networks about the public's awareness and engagement with the loop. And I think so far uh about 24 hours in we have uh close to 80 responses on that. So there's a lot of energy around you know how it's being used, what people want to see there, um, and you know, just the uh you know the connection of the loop and and how people want to want to use that. So just a brief overview of uh the loop itself. The uh loop was envisioned as a 100 mile uh shared use path. Uh it's a system, it's a network around the entire county, around entire metro. Uh there are some, you'll see from the the map, there are some spurs to that, but um you know the the vision was to have this this loop of basically loop of parks and trails around the entire uh metro area. It's designed for AD ADA accessibility, uh the loop is paved, uh provides plenty of space for amenities, running, walking, uh all kinds of activities. Um trail system that spans a variety of landscapes, a variety of terrains, um, and there's a lot of connection. You know, there are several community communities, several council districts, I think it almost maybe not all, but almost every council district touches the loop or plan pieces of the loop in some way. And so you know it's a community resource and a community amenity, and so as evidenced by the the folks behind me, there's a lot of attention and energy toward not just taking care of of what we have, but uh fulfilling that vision that is set out to complete the loop and have that uh across metro. Uh this is just a snapshot of the loop, both projects that have been completed, projects that are in planning, and then also some things that are underway right now. And so and we can share this as well as there is a a website and dashboard that shows you know to the you know granular detail about where the status of different project segments are, uh different loop segments, and you know, all kinds of information about uh what kind of amenity is, whether it's a a shared use path or um one of the other uses that uh comprise the loop. So I mentioned um it's hundred miles of planned uh planned loop and planned trail. Um we're around 50 miles of that vision. Um and so you know question that gets asked is you know uh why isn't done yet? Um and so we'll get into you know some of the the planning and some of the details around that. Uh a lot of the the work that uh goes into building the system. Um we using different funding sources and different uh trying to leverage as much you know federal and um you know basically federal money as we can. There's some uh parameters with that that we have to follow, but we want to leverage every single dollar uh of that kind that we can uh so that we're uh you know maximizing the amount of tax dollars that we're using to uh to build the loop. So we have two projects that are currently under construction. Uh one is the uh it's the MET, the Middlewood, Middletown Eastwood Trail. Um, you know, so several miles to connect basically the parklands and eventually we'll get up to uh old Shelbyville Road on uh you know when this is fully fully completed. Um and so excited about this. You know, we have this this ongoing, it's again leveraging uh federal dollars and uh uh proceeding on that. Another big one is the River Road widening. That is a 30-plus year project that has been in planning and discussion. And so we are so excited, a that the project is moving forward, that we have everything lined up and uh in terms of funding and planning and uh you know everything that we need to get this done. But another thing that we're excited about is that uh this allows us to complete a segment of the loop uh along River Road. I'm gonna hand it over to Jason to start talking about the forest. Sure. Um so the southern portion of the loop um which is scheduled and design does it be in design to go through Jefferson Memorial Forest. Um it starts down on Pendleton Road, goes up through the north across Mormon Hill, um, and eventually we'll tie all the way up to Pond Creek. Um again, there's this longer section has been divided up into three individual sections or four.
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