Clients: Walsh Construction and WVB East End Partners

Guthrie/Mayes was hired by each of the two design and construction project teams charged with building bridges linking Louisville and Southern Indiana. For both the development of a new bridge and its connections in the heart of downtown Louisville’s business district, as well as for a bridge to be located near historic and environmentally protected property on the city’s eastern edge, Guthrie/Mayes is providing communications counsel geared to keep residents fully engaged in the construction process, and mindful of the long-term payoffs.

With both projects currently underway, Guthrie/Mayes’ role is to provide proactive, ongoing communications to a variety of stakeholders. Communications tactics implemented by Guthrie/Mayes include continued daily updates on social media and website addressing news and traffic alerts; videos, on-site and aerial photography; and sustainability initiatives to engage community members. Strong relationships with project partners, stakeholders, and community entities, as well as media members, have led to shares and retweets of social media posts to further inform the public. Other community engagement activities include frequent public meetings and informational open houses, frequent updates with local government and business leadership, and site tours for local high schools. Media outreach includes a weekly traffic outlook, proactive updates and prompt responses to local and national inquiries.

Effective communications by Guthrie/Mayes will ensure that all stakeholders understand some short-term (albeit significant) inconveniences of construction will be offset by substantial long-term benefits – economic development opportunity and a better urban traffic flow, among them.