Play 1: Infrastructure

Ensure that major infrastructure decisions focus on moving people and consider the effects of AVs

Summary:

Infrastructure investments have long-lasting impacts on the community. Moving people safely and maintaining the existing transportation network should remain top priorities for Louisville Metro. New investments should be informed by community needs, trends and best practices. By taking these steps, Louisville Metro's transportation network investments can provide and catalyze benefits for everyone. While Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are not here today, it is likely they will be a part of the transportation system in the next 5-10 years. Therefore, the community needs to start making infrastructure decisions that take into account the expected impacts of AVs in order to ensure that investments made today continue to provide value in the decades to come. Thus, Louisville's infrastructure systems must be made resilient and flexible. Infrastructure decisions should take into account other large paradigm shifts in the transportation industry such as increased ridesharing and electrification.

Action Steps:

  1. 1.
    Create a process to evaluate the potential of AVs to impact infrastructure projects, land use decisions, Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), and government operations with respect to different levels of adoption and varying ownership models.
  2. 2.
    Assess existing laws, state statutes, and municipal codes that will impact the deployment of AV technologies so that unnecessary hurdles can be removed and needed protections put in place
  3. 3.
    Improve the city's complete streets process by creating a streetscape design manual with examples with right-of-way sections that are designed to move people instead of vehicles by providing citizens with a range of transportation options by leveraging the space and volumetric efficiencies afforded by AVs, ridesharing, and transit.
  4. 4.
    Assess Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure needs and create a plan to grow the EV charging network to support AV adoption and general trends in EV car ownership