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Conference & Stage Expo
For the Record

Louisville, Kentucky is right down the road from many locations within the United States. Check out the chart at right to find distances to the 2006 Confernce & Stage Expo from a nearby location.

Grahic/Deborah Hazlett.

by David Rodger
Louisville Promotions Coordinator

 

Cars, Planes, Buses, and
Boats (but No Trains)

I'm responsible for helping promote the upcoming USITT Conference & Stage Expo which is coming to my home town, Louisville, Kentucky, on March 29, 2005.

So, while in Toronto at the last conference, I talked to as many people as would listen to me, and I handed out little horse pins and brochures to hopefully generate enthusiasm for the 2006 Conference. I was a little surprised to find out that many people were already thinking about Louisville. Were they anticipating how many new plays in the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre Louisville they might be able to see? Were they remembering the last SETC conference in Louisville, several years ago, and the wonderful flocked wallpaper in the Galt House Hotel? Were they wondering how they might get their prop truck, car, boat, or plane to Louisville to participate in the special exhibition being organized by Bill Teague?

Yes. But the one comment that I received more than all others was this: Louisville is so easy to get to that they were thinking about the possibility of driving to Louisville with vans full of students and friends.

Louisville very centrally located. It is a little east of the geographic center of the U.S. (that honor goes to Lebanon, Kansas), but for a majority of USITT members, driving to Louisville takes less than a day. Nearby cities include Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Nashville. Major interstate highways go through Louisville. We fondly call the spot where I-64, I-65, and I-71 intersect downtown, "Spaghetti Junction."

If a road trip to next year's conference sounds like fun to you, below is a chart with distances and driving times for many cities within a one-day drive of Louisville. All the cities listed are home to significant numbers of USITT members. The names in all caps are locations of USITT Student Chapters.

If you prefer flying, Louisville International Airport hosts several airlines, including American/American Eagle, Continental/Continental Express, Delta, Delta Connection, Independence Air, Midwest/Midwest Connect, Northwest/Northwest Airlink, Southwest, United Express, and US Airways Express. Bus service to Louisville is provided by Greyhound. Boats are the historical method of transportation to and from Louisville, and, the conference center is only three blocks from the water. If trains are your thing, you're unfortunately out of luck. Amtrak used to operate a wonderfully quaint line, dubbed the Kentucky Cardinal, from Louisville to Chicago. The service was inaugurated in December of 1999. However, budget cuts and low ridership clipped the Cardinal's wings, and it was discontinued in July of 2003.

For more information about getting to Louisville by car, van, or truck, find your home town, or a city nearby, in the chart below then click on its name to go to a web page with a map and driving directions, courtesy of Google Maps.

City

Road Miles

Driving Hours

Alabama

Birmingham AL

365

6:13

Montgomery AL

456

7:45

Tuscaloosa AL

420

7:00

Arkansas

Conway AR

576

8:22

Fayetteville AR

620

9:22

Delaware

Wilmington DE

678

10:35

Newark DE

665

10:23

Georgia

Athens GA

479

8:17

Atlanta GA

420

7:15

Savannah GA

658

11:44

Illinois

Bloomington IL

284

4:23

Carbondale IL

233

3:53

Champaign IL (and Urbana)

234

3:43

Chicago IL

297

5:17

DeKalb IL

404

6:03

EDWARDSVILLE IL

272

4:21

Evanston IL

308

5:37

Normal IL

287

4:27

PEORIA IL

323

4:51

Indiana

Bloomington IN

104

2:03

Evansville IN

115

2:10

Ft. Wayne IN

239

4:17

Indianapolis IN

114

2:04

Lafayette IN

179

3:11

MT. VERNON IN

133

2:34

Norte Dame IN

259

5:11

South Bend IN

257

5:07

Terre Haute IN

185

3:21

Valparaiso IN

266

3:21

Iowa

Ames IA

621

8:53

Cedar Falls IA

564

8:21

Cedar Rapids IA

505

7:29

Decorah IA

607

9:40

Iowa City IA

476

7:05

Pella IA

593

9:02

Kansas

Andover KS

688

10:05

Emporia KS

613

9:05

Manhattan KS

626

9:25

Topeka KS

569

8:30

Wichita KS

701

10:18

Lawrence KS

545

8:12

Kentucky

Berea KY

113

1:50

Bowling Green KY

113

2:02

Lexington KY

78

1:12

Maryland

Baltimore MD

606

9:29

College Park MD

605

9:35

Michigan

Ann Arbor MI

347

5:48

Detroit MI

358

5:59

East Lansing MI

367

6:07

Grand Rapids MI

406

6:47

Kalamazoo MI

352

5:55

Minnesota

MANKATO MN

753

11:12

Minneapolis and St. Paul MN

744

10:41

DULUTH MN

881

12:30

Missouri

Columbia MO

384

5:59

Kansas City MO

507

7:39

Maryville MO

604

9:00

Saint Louis MO

258

4:08

Springfield MO

476

7:10

New York

Buffalo NY

534

7:56

Syracuse NY

683

9:57

Ithaca NY

670

10:58

New York NY

737

11:39

North Carolina

ASHEVILLE NC

358

6:19

BOONE NC

373

7:13

Chapel Hill NC

539

9:17

Charlotte NC

485

8:36

Greensboro NC

491

8:27

Raleigh NC

570

9:42

Ohio

Akron OH

330

4:51

Athens OH

276

4:26

Bowling Green OH

280

4:44

Cincinnati OH

104

1:40

Cleveland OH

347

5:03

Columbus OH

205

3:02

Dayton OH

151

2:25

Granville OH

238

3:33

Kent OH

343

5:05

Oxford OH

137

2:16

Toledo OH

300

5:06

Pennsylvania

Allentown PA

654

10:19

Kutztown PA

640

10:06

Lancaster PA

648

10:15

Lansdowne PA

702

11:00

Lewisburg PA

608

8:48

Philadelphia PA

707

11:05

Pittsburgh PA

387

5:42

UNIVERSITY PARK PA

566

8:16

Villanova PA

707

11:03

South Carolina

Columbia SC

506

8:55

Greenville SC

410

7:23

Tennessee

Knoxville TN

245

4:14

MEMPHIS TN

380

6:11

Nashville TN

175

2:58

Virginia

Charlottesville VA

492

8:38

Fairfax VA

610

9:40

RADFORD VA

386

6:57

Richmond VA

559

9:52

West Virginia

Huntington WV

197

3:22

Institute WV

237

4:04

Wisconsin

EAU CLAIRE WI

654

9:25

Green Bay WI

510

8:28

Madison WI

483

7:09

Middleton WI

492

7:17

Milwaukee WI

395

6:53

Oshkosh WI

479

8:07

Wauwatosa WI

401

6:58

 

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