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Louisville Water is replacing a 130-year-old water main on Oak Street.
It’s a pipe that’s delivered drinking water since the late 1800s!
We are committed to maintaining and rehabilitating our critical infrastructure to ensure we can deliver reliable, high-quality drinking water. We started this project in July 2024 to replace a large water main.
Construction Progress
Louisville Water’s active construction work for the Oak Street Area Project is resuming Monday, October 26.
Starting next week, two active construction zones at each end of the project route will begin work towards each other in order to complete our project as quickly and efficiently as possible. You can see the whole project route and the most up-to-date detours in the map below.
Here are the details for each active construction zone:
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One zone begins near the intersection of East Oak Street and South Clay Street with work progressing east towards Clay. Work will continue north on Clay Street and then east on East St. Catherine Street to the intersection with South Shelby Street.
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Another zone begins on E. Kentucky Street between the Beargrass Creek bridge and the intersection of E. Kentucky Street and Vine Street. Work will progress west to the intersection with Swan Street.
We greatly appreciate your understanding as we work to complete this important project.
- Local access will remain available for residents and businesses impacted by road closures and detours. Please follow posted signage as local access may change based on where crews are working.
- On-street parking will be limited or unavailable in areas in and around the active construction zone, but we will make parking spots available again once we move beyond that location.
- This water main replacement project requires us to “dig and replace” to install the new water main. In order to safely complete this work, we will need to close roads, detour traffic, and limit parking near our construction zones. We are committed to providing access for local traffic on either side of our work zone.
- Note: you will not lose water service during construction.
- Just like any large construction project, you can expect lane closures and detours. We will provide regular updates via this dedicated project webpage and social media channels.
- If you have any questions, please contact our Project Engineer Eric Walls at (502) 333-4858 or via email at ewalls@LouisvilleWater.com.
Construction Resumes: Fall 2026 – Summer 2027
Where:
- East Oak St. between Hancock and South Clay
- South Clay St. between Oak and East St. Catherine
- East St. Catherine St. between South Clay and South Shelby
- South Shelby St. between Mary and East St. Catherine
- East St. Catherine St. between South Shelby and Swan
- Swan St. between East St. Catherine and East Kentucky
- East Kentucky St. between Swan and Vine streets
Why: Rehabilitating this 130-year-old water main is crucial for overall system reliability
Phase 2 of this water main replacement project requires us to “dig and replace” to install the new water main. In order to safely complete this work, we will need to close roads, detour traffic, and limit parking near our construction zones. We are committed to providing access for local traffic on either side of our work zone.
Just like any large construction project, there will be lane closures and detours. We will provide regular updates via this dedicated project webpage and social media channels.
We dug through our archives to find these historic photos of the water main construction in the 1890s. They truly show how much Louisville has grown and Louisville Water’s long history of investing in infrastructure.
As you’ll see in this video, what was once high above is now buried down below. Take a trip back in time with us!
