LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A group of residents in Old Louisville are fed up with constant heavy truck traffic going through their neighborhood. They are now using artificial intelligence to help bring attention to the problem.

What You Need To Know

  •  A community group in Old Louisville is collecting data on heavy truck traffic in their neighborhood

  •  Using a mounted camera and AI, they are able to record when certin vehicles go down St. Catherine St.

  •  The issue, according to the Old Louisville Mobility Coalition, has been ongoing for years

  •  A proposed amendment to the city's heavy truck ordnance is moving forward in the Louisville Metro Council, it comes after a meeting with the coalition where their data was presented

On any day, semi-trucks and other multi-ton vehicles cut through the historic neighborhood. They bring unwanted noise and disruptions according to resident Derrick Pedolzky.

“There you go right there,” Pedolzky said as an 18-wheeler passed by on St. Catherine Street “Over the line, three or four feet over the line. Is that safe in our neighborhood? I don’t know.”

Pedolzky has worked for the last seven years to put a stop to this. Recently, a new approach by one of his neighbors might have moved the needle on the issue. 

“We are just trying to protect residents and their, their homes from these heavy trucks that are way too frequent in the neighborhood,” he said.

In his third-story window, Ben King installed what looks like a security camera. It faces the road outside his house and, with the use of AI, logs every big rig and large truck it sees. King is a member of the recently formed Old Louisville Mobility Coalition.

“Well, the thing I learned was that there’s a lot of trucks,” King said of his findings.

King discovered on average, 142 large trucks drive past his house daily.

The computer program he uses saves a clip of each one that goes by, King then puts the data into a spreadsheet manually. He hopes to make the process fully automated in the future.

“Having the concrete numbers to really quantify the problem helped, and it makes a compelling case, and it’s not just people saying, it seems to me like there’s a lot. It’s people saying, here’s how many are there,” King said.

At a recent community meeting with city leaders, King presented his data on heavy truck traffic in Old Louisville. The next day, legislation on a heavy truck ban was drafted by Louisville Metro District 6 Councilman Phillip Baker. The legislation would add a handful of streets in the neighborhood to the city’s heavy truck ban ordinance.

“You know, I think that the ball was moving before they started it, but it definitely helped as far as, you know, facilitating a little quicker response,” Pedolzky said.

In late November, Baker, who represents Old Louisville, had his heavy truck ordnance read for the first time. It now must be passed by a committee before being voted on by the entire Metro Council.

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