LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- It’s a stretch of road that causes some serious white-knuckle driving. St. Anthony Church Road, near Waverly Hills in southwest Louisville, has developed such a dangerous reputation that some have dubbed it 'Hot Rod Haven.'
“At nighttime, you have people with LED lights — headlights — and they blind you. You can’t see the road," one driver told WDRB News.
“Sometimes, you come around that curve, and you don’t know what you’re coming into," his passenger added.
The road was already narrow even before a landslide washed some of it away last summer, which made the road even narrower and harder to travel ever since.
“St. Anthony Church Road — south-enders know it as ‘Hot Rod Haven.’ It is hilly and curvy and dangerous. The landslide blocked almost an entire lane of traffic," said Councilman David Yates, D-25.
St. Anthony Church Road was damaged by a landslide last summer. (WDRB Photo)
Yates says he’s barely escaped a head-on collision here and knows others have too.
“I think it’s a matter of time before you see a very serious injury or even fatality," he said.
Right now, blinking lights try to slow traffic, but finally, after months of waiting, Yates got good news from the city: a fix is in the works. City engineers will use a concrete wedge to repair St. Anthony Church Road.
“Once they’re in place, when the roadway starts to slide again — when the landslide begins — the pressure on the trapezoid actually pushes it down into the earth and stabilizes it," Yates said.
Yates says the permanent fix will cost about $170,000.
St. Anthony Church Road was damaged by a landslide last summer. (WDRB Photo)
“And the repair — this is going to have to be closed at least a week, and that’s weather permitting," he said.
It's a small inconvenience Yates says will definitely be worthwhile.
The councilman says the city should be done with the work on June 21.
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