Bridges of Southern Indiana

[otterhere]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

If it takes 30 minutes each way to cross a free bridge 2 times a day and it takes maybe 60 to 90 seconds each way to cross the toll bridge, I suppose it would be worth it to spend 80$ a month for toll fees, that is if a family has 80$ each month to spare for toll fees. Otherwise, to avoid the 30 minute wait crossing the free bridge, I'd leave for work 30 to 60 minutes earlier each day.

So I gather it's only during the usual rush hours that congestion is a problem on the free bridges?

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by otterhere

So I gather it's only during the usual rush hours that congestion is a problem on the free bridges?

Yeah, that's kinda what I gathered, too. I don't live in Louisville and I haven't been there since maybe 2009 or so, but I'd almost bet the farm that it is during the usual rush hour times when the highest number of vehicles are crossing the *free* bridges. But even though rush hours are the busiest times of day for the *free* bridges, that high number of vehicles might not be high enough to qualify for "congestion" status.

We use to go Louisville quite a bit when I lived in Muncie in the 60's and 70's. I do know that in the 1970's, and even into the early 80's, it could take close to an hour to get thru Louisville Metro on I-65. Back then, I-65 thru Louisville was among the most congested stretches of interstate highway in the entire interstate system. It was more congested and chaotic than I-465 in Indianapolis and back then I avoided I-465 like the plague. It was worse than Cincinatti, St. Louis, Memphis, and Nashville.

The congestion on I-65 thru Louisvlle in the 1970's was just as congested as Austin is today, relatively speaking. In 1970's, Louisville Metro had a population that had about 300,000 more people than the Greater Austin Metro area. In the 1970's, Greater Austin had about 50,000 more people than the Ft. Wayne metro, and was more than twice as small as the Dayton metro area.

Since the beginning of this century, the last 3 or 4 times I came thru Louisville on I-65, it was a breeze. I'm sure that new free bridge has alot to do with that.

The last few times I drove I-65 between Indianapolis and Louisville and vice-uh-versa, it was 2 lanes for most of those 100 or so miles and nearly bumper to bumper the entire way.