I cannot hide the fact that I want more
walkable spaces in Lexington, even in the area considered the most
walkable – downtown. Therefore, I participated in the Gehl Studios
Public Space Public Life study done for the Lexington DDA this
past summer. I took part in the two initial session where the
questions about where the places of most interest are and what
Lexingonians want in their public spaces. I not only gave my
opinions but also watched as others worked to give theirs and to
appropriately show locations on an aerial photo. More than a few had
some trouble.
I also attended two similar versions of
a presentation on the results of the study and was quite surprised
by the way the data was depicted. It took me a few additional days
to finally see the final study maps for a detailed perusal.
Favorite places
The initial step in the study was to
gather base data and basically confirm some apparently global social
desires for public spaces.
The first set of points mapped was to
show where the respondents go today and for which of 4 reasons they
go. This to highlight the current hot spots of urban activity as it
relates to public space. The obvious and usual places jump right out
at you: Jefferson Street, Triangle Park, Cheapside Pavilion, Gratz
Park and the Court House Plaza. These are what I consider our
current “pockets” of urban vitality.
Some others are not so logical either
from their location or for the listed reason for going there. The
cluster of 11 or so dots in the center of the CentrePointe “hole”
indicates that some want to spend more time there – today-. An
additional 8 or so indicate that they go to socialize on that block
of Vine St without any public attraction apparent there. Similar
groupings of markers in the Cox St parking lot for Rupp Arena or the
rock strewn lot across from the Thoroughbred Park on Main St raise
major question about the usefulness of this as “baseline”data.
The points concerning Thoroughbred Park itself could be a whole
question to be answered later.
From the responses of what
Lexingtonians like to see in public spaces (here and elsewhere) and
the mapped “hot-spots” of their favorites, ten key focus areas
were identified. Again the obvious ones predominate. Jefferson St,
Gratz Park, Short St, Cheapside Pavilion, North Lime (up to 3rd
St) and Thoroughbred Park on the north side of Main St. Triangle
Park, Phoenix Park, South Limestone (at campus) and the Transit
Center on the south side. As an aside, only three people indicated
the Transit Center structure as a “favorite” place and they may
have been misplaced.
Movement between
our favorite places
The next step was to measure when and
how we move between these hot-spot or “pockets” on a typical
day. Using volunteers to count solely the pedestrians as they took
to the streets on their daily routines, maps were generated showing
hourly levels of foot traffic.
The weekday locations of maximum
traffic did not surprise me, nor should it anyone else. The
Short/Limestone intersection and the Transit Center /Ayres Al
connection (or lack thereof) dominated the morning and evening
commute time frames. Main and Short Streets from Limestone to beyond
Broadway held the top area during the lunchtime hours followed by the
university heavy dining choices of South Limestone restaurants. The
happy hour foot traffic centered on South Lime, Main/Broadway and
Jefferson St in that order.
Pedestrian traffic between any
identified “pockets” is minimal to non-existent. Knowing this
and seeing that the data confirm it may lead to another study, but
that is what I thought would be covered in this one.
The weekend locations again surprise no
one. In fact their beginning time frame is the “morning market”
when the primary traffic of any kind will be focused on the weekly
Lexington Farmers Market event which has held dominance in downtown
for many years. The numbers for Thoroughbred Park look to be at
their highest at this time and despite the claims of desires to spend
more time there, they. barely make the chart. Lunchtime on a
Saturday afternoon should typically find most of the activity around
the dining places on the west side of Limestone and the campus
hangouts of South Lime and the realization that Jefferson St barely
moves the needle until after 5pm is interesting.
Again the pedestrian movement between
these “pockets” is lacking.
To compare Lexington to other US cities
might seem a bit presumptuous but, at its peak even Short ST is on
par with other business districts. That it cannot hold that
pedestrian count for any sustained amount of time tells a different
story. This study does freely admit that we have definite peaks and
lulls but says nothing about the relative distances of the compared
districts.
Pedestrian
conclusions
Some of the most notable conclusion
which were drawn from the collected data are:
- 1) that very few people downtown are willing to walk to work.
- 2) that the greatest downtown pedestrian volume is at lunchtime.
- 3) that the pedestrian activity comes in bursts (usually accompanied with sponsored events).
- 4) that without the events, the pedestrians go away.
- 5)that families do not spend non-event time strolling through the downtown.
But the top conclusion was:
that people will stay downtown after
work and party, get this, around the Pavilion and usually with an
event.
What is missing from any conclusion is
the recognition that pedestrian traffic on Vine Street, other than at
the Transit Center is minimal at best. Yet th.is is where the City
has spent a lot of money in the recent past
Anybody even remotely cognizant of
downtown could come up with this conclusion without hiring a
consultant.
Passive public
recreation figures.
In terms of what a typical downtown
visitor does when one gets to a public space, Gehl Studios measured
the ratio of those who lingered to those who passed by. This was
labeled as “stickiness” and looks at where they did linger
but not totally identifies the why of the lingering.
On a typical weekday one out of every
two pedestrians took time to linger in both Gratz and Phoenix parks
followed by Thoroughbred Park with one out of three, but the
pedestrian numbers for Phoenix dwarfed the other two. Of the 3
sites, I can find little reason to stay at any of them.
North Limestone at 1 out of 4, South
Limestone with 1 out of 7 and Jefferson St showing 1 out of 15 all
share the same characteristic, the public realm in each is the
sidewalk which connects drinking/dining establishments there. I
think that the Jefferson St ratio is skewed due to the number of
elderly from Connie Griffith Manor out for a walk around the block.
Triangle Park holds one out of every 38
passers by on a typical weekday and one out of 19 on the weekends.
Unless there is an event in the park, there is little reason to pause
for any length of time. The park neither engages the street nor
fully isolates the seeker of passive free time from the sounds of
major city traffic. One cannot find respite from the hot summer sun
nor the brisk spring and autumn breezes and while the soothing sounds
of the tumbling water may bring comfort to the mind it does not mask
reality. What becomes quite evident from the numbers is that despite
the claims of being “favorite” places, Thoroughbred and Triangle
Parks are not very popular. Symbolic and visually striking, but not
gathering spots for Lexington.
Four guiding
strategies
After the
collection of numbers, the visualizations of the actions of our
pedestrians versus the expressed desires of interested parties and
the discovery of the lack of retention elements of our public saces,
the Gehl Studios group put out 4 strategies to guide further work.
To begin with, we
need a “people first” urban core. With that I agree. That is
not to say we need to remove automobile traffic altogether, but to
limit its domination of all forms of urban traffic. Pedestrians
should get priority at major intersections and through town vehicular
traffic should be discouraged.
Then a bridging
of our north-south divide by not just strengthening our Limestone and
Jefferson corridors, but Martin Luther King and Rose/Elm Tree Lane as
well. Our focus need not be just on the west side of Limestone. The
report says to 'prioritize sidewalk improvements' and that should not
be limited to additional paving but more and better retail engagement
to whatever pavement that currently exists.
We must also
begin to use what we have, our existing resources. It was
acknowledged that all of our “great” destination style public
spaces are not well connected. That these spaces need to be easily
accessible and imbued with something to invite and hold a visitors
interest. Attempts at better way-finding signage are being made but
we must do more. It is suggested that an increase in diverse and
more dramatic programming, with extended hours could be the answer,
but there is an expense to that.
Filling in the
gaps, those basically dead pedestrian segments, seems to roll all of
the other strategies into a culminating objective for downtown. Many
of these gaps are extended lengths of monochromatic wall or surface
parking lots where retail formerly stood. Main St and Vine St are of
particular note in having more of this dead space, even where the
former retail spaces remain but the engagement with the
sidewalk/pedestrian is missing. No amount of streetscape redesign or
rain gardens will solve this.
Next, I think
will look at the several “pilot” projects which have been
proposed. Until then, let me know what you think.
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