Last week, 9th District U.S. House Representative Todd Young toured the bridge. New Albany's Mayor Jeff Gahan concurrently indicated support for tearing down Norfolk Southern's wall, noting that the Vincennes Street corridor especially stands to benefit from the restored link between riverbanks. City and Greenway officials say that plans are in hand to link a reopened K & I to the Greenway itself. Shaunna Graf explains:
The City of New Albany is currently in the final stages of the design plan (working through INDOT) for the area of the Ohio River Greenway including the approach to Vincennes Street from 18th Street. Vincennes Street is the street which connects the K&I Bridge to New Albany. The approach/ramp will be at the current 18th Street and Water Street trail head continuing to Vincennes Street. There would be very little design needed to connect this feature to the eastern lane of the K&I Bridge.
The community gets it, and as we've observed previously:
The only sure way to make this happen is to pry the K & I from the cold, dead hands of Norfolk Southern, and the best leverage strategy is for local officials to work together. Think about it. Here's a project that seems to have both Todd Young and John Yarmuth sharing a goal. Such symbolism is too good to be wasted, and in terms of New Albany self-interest, a Greenway intersection with an accessible K & I virtually writes the Vincennes Street revitalization plan all by itself.
Now the prying merely needs to begin in earnest.
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