walkability = very important

Maybe that’s an outsider’s misperception. But removing the highways, or downscaling them, might turn downtown and its adjacent neighborhoods, including the riverfront, into more attractive places. And where highways have come down in other cities, property values have gone up. What brings life to a city are attractions, services, homes and walkable streets.

At the very least, Louisville needs to devote far more resources to public transit. It’s great that the riverfront park opened and that groups of citizens are nurturing neighborhoods. But why repeat costly mistakes? We see traffic problems today and ask how to ease them. But it’s better to start by thinking about what kind of streets and neighborhoods a city wants, what kind of waterfront it should have and how mass transit could change things.

First things first.

It's interesting to read this and concurrently think about a self-driving cars future.

Even in that future, walkability will be important.