Utility crews have started relocating poles along Greenwood Road in Pleasure Ridge Park, the first visible sign of movement on a widening project that residents have waited a quarter century to see built. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans to widen the 2.6-mile corridor between Greenbelt Highway and Dixie Highway to three lanes, adding sidewalks, a multi-use path and a median meant to calm one of southwest Louisville's most dangerous stretches of pavement.
Crews relocated utility poles along the corridor this week, according to WLKY, which reports that pole and line work will continue through 2028 before road construction itself is expected to begin in 2029. The station's report notes the project traces back to an original 2001 proposal that called for expanding Greenwood Road to five lanes, a plan that was replaced in 2012 by the current three-lane, context-sensitive design now moving toward construction. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's Statewide Transportation Improvement Program estimates the total cost of the project at $36.19 million, covering the stretch from milepoint 0.54 to 3.148 along KY 1931.
A Quarter Century in the Making
The long gap between planning and pavement reflects more than just design revisions. Right-of-way land acquisition along the corridor was not finished until spring 2023, and the project also suffered a multi-year setback when the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet instituted a statewide spending freeze known as Pause-50 in 2017, which delayed $145 million in state-funded road work to keep Kentucky's Road Fund from dropping to a projected $54 million. Metro Council member Jonathan Joseph, whose district touches the corridor, said Greenwood Road is among the top three roads for issues or complaints the council fields, and he told the same outlet that residents are beginning to receive answers about when the project will actually be completed.
Once finished, the plans call for a sidewalk on the south side of Greenwood Road and a multi-use path on the north side, along with a median running the entire stretch between Greenbelt Highway and Dixie Highway. Greenwood Road between Terry Road and Dixie Highway is already listed on Louisville Metro's High Injury Network under Vision Zero Louisville, a designation reserved for non-interstate corridors that produce an outsized share of fatal and severe-injury crashes, part of the city's stated goal of eliminating traffic deaths in Jefferson County by 2050. According to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's STIP MOD 2024.017, accident data for the last five years show close to 300 crashes on Greenwood Road between Greenbelt Highway and Dixie Highway.
Business Owner Backs Safety Fixes Despite Losing Parking
Karen Newton, who has owned Newton's Auto Repair on Greenwood Road for 11 years, supports the safety upgrades even though the widened right-of-way will cut into her existing parking lot. She said Greenwood Road needs a median running the entire length of the corridor, describing drivers who currently inch out into traffic and wait until it stops before pulling out. Newton said keeping children safe is the most important goal of the improvements, pointing to students who currently make a dangerous trek through yards and ditches beside the road because the existing sidewalk forces pedestrians to walk through yards and ditches near PRP Ice Cream.
That student safety concern is far from abstract. Greenwood Road directly serves multiple Jefferson County Public Schools facilities, including Pleasure Ridge Park High School at 5901 Greenwood Road and Greenwood Elementary School at 5801 Greenwood Road, which together account for more than 2,000 daily students and staff, according to Jefferson County Public Schools. Newton said she hopes the improvements will ultimately make the area safer for both drivers and pedestrians navigating the corridor on foot.
Local Dollars Add to State Investment
Metro Council isn't waiting entirely on the state. In the 2026–2027 Louisville Metro budget, council members Crystal Bast and Jonathan Joseph secured $208,000 for localized roadway and safety upgrades in the neighborhoods surrounding Greenwood Road, which serves as the boundary between council districts 12 and 14, according to Louisville Metro Government. That municipal funding sits alongside the Cabinet's multi-million-dollar state investment as both levels of government try to address a corridor that has drawn safety complaints for decades.
The stakes were underscored two days before the utility work became visible, when a motorcyclist was killed at the intersection of Greenbelt Highway and Greenwood Road — the western terminus of the planned widening project — prompting an investigation by the ongoing LMPD probe. Jefferson County recorded 200 motorcycle crashes and 24 motorcycle traffic fatalities in 2025, leading all Kentucky counties and fueling local safety initiatives along major arterials like Greenwood Road and Greenbelt Highway, with surface roads accounting for roughly 75% of Louisville-area traffic fatalities.
According to Louisville Metro's 2024 Annual Report, 39 people killed in 2024 were pedestrians, a 26% increase from 2023 and the highest figure in at least ten years.
What Comes Next
For now, the visible work remains limited to utility relocation, with electric and water lines needing repositioning before heavy grading can start. Full lane widening, the median, sidewalks and the multi-use path will not arrive until construction begins in 2029, pending funding authorization in the state's 2028 Highway Plan. Residents along the corridor, including Newton and the families walking children to Pleasure Ridge Park High School and Greenwood Elementary, are left watching utility poles move as the first proof that decades of planning may finally translate into pavement.
