Day 89 took me to the Old Paris Place subdivision, located outside of I-75 along Paris Pike. Most of the houses here are from the early 2000’s, though again I found an older house, this time from the 1930’s, anchors the newer subdivision.
Fresh off a few recent walks in which the tension between car infrastructure and walkability was highlighted, I still was still very conscious of car traffic today. The speed limits on the main routes through the subdivision are 25 mph, as they should be. Cars seem to move faster than this, though, reinforcing the need for psychological triggers to influence traffic speed. In fact, Preakness has a traffic calming median that squeezes the road around a curve, though its impact is apparently limited.
Today brought me back to the Lansdowne area, and my path focused on the northwest side of the Lansdowne/Tates Creek intersection. The houses and lots here are large by urban standards. The landscaping tends to be more wild–not so much of the manicured but bland look that I see in brand new neighborhoods with similar size lots. There were probably enough interesting things to mention on there own, but because of its proximity to two recent multi-modal infrastructure projects, I wound up really focusing on the challenges involved in improving Lexington’s walkability and bikability.
Guy-wire across the crosswalk at Lansdowne and Tates Creek
Lexington recently added a sidewalk to a significant stretch of Tates Creek Road including the stretch I walked along today. The sidewalk is nice, the ramps are designed so that one doesn’t have to angle into moving traffic to cross with traffic. There are some challenges though–note the guy wires strung across the ramp, just barely high enough to give clearance to a 6-foot tall person. Crossing Tates Creek was frustrating because of the timing of the lights and the need to provide long turn signals for traffic turning off Lansdowne onto Tates Creek. There were long stretches of time when no cars passed, especially during the portion of the cycle dedicated to left turns. Breaking the crossing into two stretches across Tates Creek, utilizing the median as a refuge island, could help. I remember visiting Burbank, California and being a little shocked that pedestrians actually waited for walk signals rather than just waiting for a reasonable break in traffic and making a dash for it. I’ve come to attribute this behavior to the fact that short light cycles (made possible, perhaps, by slower speed limits) made waiting for the light less frustrating.
Yield to Pedestrians…but only in the crosswalk?
Pedestrian traffic is frustrating and confusing to drivers, too. My recent return to suburban Denver reminded me of how many more people walk there, and perhaps because of that, Denver drivers pay more attention to things like pedestrians crossing. Not far from here on a recent Monday morning, I watched a woman wait as car after car made right turns in front of her despite the fact that she had the right-of-way. And so, we have signs like this one notifying drivers that yes, they have to yield to pedestrians.
Loose aggregate along Lansdowne.
Last summer, the city painted a bike lane along Lansdowne. This road is a natural bike route and was already identified on biking maps of Lexington as a bike-friendly street (there may have been existing signage as well). I’m glad the city added the lane lines. But again, it exposes some of the challenges, some of the behavior changes that need to occur. Many drivers ignore the lines, sometimes driving for extended periods within not just the first line but also the 2nd line. In the meantime, the curb side of the lane is filled with loose aggregate for long stretches. As a bicyclist, this is a bad mix–a hilly, curvy road with a treacherous surface on one side and operators of 2-ton machines who aren’t expecting to see a bicycle on the other side. There is not a lot of room for error here. If more bicyclists rode along Lansdowne, drivers would probably be more cautious, and when drivers are more cautious, perhaps the road will seem a little less treacherous and more people will consider riding.
City leaders are heeding the advice of bike/walk proponents and moving in the right direction, but it will take incremental, iterative change among ourselves to get the city to become multi-mode friendly.
Today, I revisited the Cove Lake neighborhood near Man O’ War and Richmond. I previously visited this area on Day 42 and Day 72, but this portion was a little more homogenous than the portions I passed through on those days, with mid-1970s single family housing throughout. The key feature of this area is the hilly terrain. There are views of the St. Joseph East Campus on the other side of Richmond from the tops of the hills. Retaining walls of various sizes are in many yards.
All in all, this was a chilly day and a quiet neighborhood and there isn’t too much to add. I do like to comment on features that I like, and one house had a nice hedge around it’s yard, a nice break from the open yards that dominate. Hedges and fences seem like they would tend to isolate houses, but when they are low enough to see over they almost feel like they have the opposite affect by connecting the entrance of a home to the sidewalk. A neighborhood with picket fences or hedges, when well implemented, feels social and welcoming rather than isolated and suspicious.
Day 86 brought me back to Rookwood, which I’ve visited twice before, on Day 45 and Day 7. Today’s walk was similar in a lot of ways to the one on Day 45, including the converted garages. Today’s walk did pass near an original house in the neighborhood, apparently much older than the 1950’s-vintage houses around it–its always neat to come across these houses.
A couple of things struck me today. The first was that the streets here are over-engineered, with posted speed limits of 35mph that are probably faster than they need to be for starters, but which may well be exceeded regularly because the street “feels” faster than 35mph–there aren’t a lot of psychological barriers to going faster. The streets feel wide, and they are wide at 36 feet. Few parked cars and few streets in the treelawn area contribute to the wide-open feeling here. The speed at which cars are traveling and lack of barriers doesn’t just make these streets feel (incrementally) less safe to walk along, it also makes parking on the street feel kind of risky.
An original house in the Rookwood neighborhood
The second thing I noticed is that there were relatively few signs of young kids in this neighborhood. There may be good reasons for this and of course subjective observations are susceptible to all sorts of errors, but it seems worth mentioning, especially in light of the traffic speed observations.
Today was another springlike day. More melting and the remnants of a rainy day earlier in the week means the city is pretty muddy. I headed over to a neighborhood along Armstrong Mill just inside of Man O’ War. This area seems to have been built in the 1960’s, a little older than I expected this close to Man O’ War. Mud aside, I thought this area felt comfortable. It lacks the self-consciousness of newer neighborhoods and people feel comfortable doing unique things. The outward expression of homes is more open, more honest.
You know, I like to highlight things I like about neighborhoods. On some level I feel like I’m on a quixotic quest to find aspects of neighborhoods that remind me of the places I knew as a kid. Thinking about those neighborhoods, there were subtle things my neighbors did to differentiate their homes and yards (or balconies). These could be visual things: I remember a planter that struck me as “Nevada-shaped.” Or tactile: a particular stucco wall that was rough to the touch but made up for that by allowing itself to be walked upon. Or olfactory: juniper and honeysuckle were especially memorable. Any of these things could serve as waypoints, or make things interesting along routine walks.
The entrance to the neighborhood from Armstrong Mill
This neighborhood provided a similar experience. The mud smell and the juniper contributed to a earthy spring experience that intensified at one corner. The fence on Beaufort painted in flag colors anchored a street that was more expressive that most. Subtle things can play this role as well, especially to the frequent passer-by. This neighborhood has plenty that might qualify for this as well including a peculiar mailbox and someone’s project car.
Day 89 took me to the Old Paris Place subdivision, located outside of I-75 along Paris Pike. Most of the houses here are from the early 2000’s, though again I found an older house, this time from the 1930’s, anchors the newer subdivision.
