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Shepherdsville leaders urge residents to press KYTC after prolonged I‑65 closures
Summary
Mayor and staff said recent interstate and state work on I‑65 and local interchanges caused multi‑day gridlock, urged residents to contact KYTC and legislators, and said the city has contracted engineering help to improve coordination with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
Mayor (name not specified) opened the meeting by saying traffic would be the council’s only substantive topic and urged residents to understand which agencies control which roads. "KYTC controls those roads," the mayor said, adding that the "squeaky wheel gets the oil" and asking residents to contact state legislators and federal representatives to flag local concerns.
City staff described the recent sequence of events that contributed to gridlock: simultaneous construction and closure activity within a roughly five‑mile stretch near Shepherdsville combined with accidents and weather. Staff said they had worked with Stantec, the state's consultant, to retime traffic signals to maximize throughput but acknowledged there is no quick fix when roadway capacity is constrained: "we don't have a magic wand to make that road wider or give us another lane," staff said.
Police and fire officials told the council the closures and crashes lengthened emergency response times in parts of the city and created resource‑allocation challenges. The police sergeant described how event planning and closures for the Light of Shepherdsville were adjusted to reduce local disruption: the planned road closure for the event will start at 6:00 p.m. rather than earlier to limit the time lanes are closed.
The mayor said the city has engaged Strand Engineering to help coordinate future planning and asked residents to report issues to the mayor's office and code enforcement so the city can present consolidated concerns to KYTC. Staff and council emphasized that many of the roadways in question are state or county facilities and that funding and scheduling decisions reside with those higher authorities, so local contact with legislators and KYTC is necessary to accelerate attention.
The council did not adopt any new local traffic ordinances at the meeting; it scheduled ongoing coordination and asked staff to continue pushing for better notice and sequencing of future state projects.
