LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Water has a project under way, it said will improve the reliability of current infrastructure. Business owners said the construction is already impacting their bottom lines.

What You Need To Know

  • Louisville Water Company has started construction near the intersection of River Road and Mockingbird Valley Road

  • The project will allow Louisville Water to install dual pipelines from their plant in Crescent Hill down to their plant in Prospect

  • While businesses on River Road understand the updates are needed, they are impacting their business

  • The Louisville Water Company said everyone will continue to have water service throughout the two-year project

Krissy Davis owns River Road BBQ. She said the construction started on River Road in front of their business on March 10. While crews are making progress. Davis said many customers are confused despite signs saying the business is open.

“We have guests who won’t even turn on to River Road because they think we’re closed even though we have the smoker going. You know, we have cars in the parking lot,” said Davis.

Davis said the start of the project just came at the wrong time. 

“It’s unfortunate timing, too. It’s on the heels of it being closed for two weeks for the flood,” said Davis.

Communications specialist for the Louisville Water Company, Ed Marin, said this project will allow them to install dual pipelines from their plant in Crescent Hill down to their plant in Prospect. 

“Louisville Water really prides itself on being proactive with our infrastructure and making sure that critical infrastructure that we have is maintained. This line was installed in 1971, so it’s really reached the end of its useful life. And so we are making sure that we have a new line going in,” said Marin.

Marin said this project is an essential part of the water treatment process.

“This project is a critical part of our infrastructure and part of the treatment process to make sure that we provide fresh, clean drinking water. We need to remove those solids from the process,” said Marin.

Davis said while she understands these updates are needed, they are impacting her business.

“There are tens of thousands of vehicles that travel this road every day, you know, to and from downtown and east and wherever. So, you know, that loses a lot of the visibility that we did have. And if it’s for a full two years than that, that’s a little scary,” said Davis.

The Louisville Water Company said everyone will continue to have water service throughout the two-year project.

Louisville Water said this is a dynamic operation and is split into four work zones. They are currently in the first work zone along River Road from Zorn Avenue to Blankenbaker Lane and will reconfigure the traffic patterns every day to keep the public informed on the progress and detours. 

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