Council Hears the Complete Streets Action Plan
On January 16th’s Council Work Session, Council heard a presentation on the City’s new Complete Streets Action Plan.
For the past 50 years, Lexington has planned and designed streets primarily for fast/efficient vehicle transportation. This type of road design can include higher speed limits, straight roads, and wider/more lanes. While this can make car-based transportation faster, it can also make roads more dangerous for road users. Studies show that the chance of a fatality in a car accident can double for each 10 mph increase in vehicle speed. But, it can be especially deadly for vunerable road users like pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcycle users.
In 2023, there were 147 collisions involving pedestrians in Lexington, 20 of whom were killed.
The four roads with the most pedestrian accidents last year were Broadway, New Circle, Limestone, and Nicholasville.
Cyclist deaths from vehicle collisions in Lexington are up 44% over the past decade, according to WLEX-TV.
In December 2022, Council passed a Complete Streets policy aiming to make Lexington’s streets safer for all users. Part of this policy called for the creation of an Action Plan to set targets, goals, and benchmarks the City could meet in its Complete Streets effort. Much of 2023 was spent by the City gathering input from Lexington residents, community stakeholders, and industry experts to craft the Action Plan.
The Complete Streets Action Plan has 39 tasks, each including deliverables and target deadlines for completion, as well as which City divisions will lead each goal. Some goals for 2024 include:
Updating street design standards to enhance safety for all roadway users
Creating two new staff positions: a Complete Streets Coordinator within the Division of Environmental Quality and Public Works, and a Vision Zero Coordinator within the Lexington Metropolitan Planning Organization
“Vision Zero” is a phrase used for cities setting a goal to reach zero roadway deaths
Running a Complete Streets education campaign for residents
You can view the entire presentation starting on page 71 of this packet. You can learn more about Lexington’s Complete Streets initiative here.
Councilmembers’ questions largely centered on tasks in the plan they could support immediately. Due to the large number of recent pedestrian deaths, Councilmembers shared that they were interested in beginning work to improve street safety as soon as possible.
Kenzie Gleason of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) told Councilmembers that they plan to hire a Complete Streets Coordinator position this year. Once that position is filled, the Coordinator will work closely with the Council to address any goals that they can help with. The MPO has also made all of its budget requests for action items they can work on during Fiscal Year 2025.
No action was taken on this item.
You can watch the recorded meeting on LexTV.
