Tag Archives: Boston

Day 124-Back to the ‘burbs

This was an impromptu walk through a neighborhood close to home. I’ve walked through this area several times with my daughter; today she was home “sick” and it turned out to be a nice day for a walk, so I set off with the plan of picking a route based on how things went.

I’ve been intentionally biasing my route selection toward neighborhoods inside New Circle Road since I almost certainly won’t be able to finish all routes before we relocate to a new city, probably in the spring. So today’s was a rare recent trek through a relatively new neighborhood. I was pleasantly surprised that this area has some of the features that make older neighborhoods interesting to walk through but which new neighborhoods tend to lack–unique houses and unique landscaping. The first is funny–really the vast majority of houses here are very similar to one another. A two story ranch is repeated up and down these streets with minor variations. But there are occasional houses that are perhaps even more striking for breaking what is otherwise a fairly strict mold. The landscaping, again, was largely typical of suburban neighborhoods with expanses of grass interrupted only by driveways. But there was enough variation–a picket fence here, tall hedge there, to make a difference.

Day 60-Tributaries of tributaries

day 60Day 60 took me to the Monticello neighborhood, just west of Shillito Park.  This is similar in many ways to the areas I’ve visited the past few days, though this neighborhood is slightly older, with 70’s era “two-story” ranch houses dominating.

We saw our first significant snow fall in Lexington this morning, so I really wanted to capture the snow before it could melt off the trees.  The snow certainly has an impact on viewing the neighborhood as well, though, serving as a modulating factor by muting the visual impact of lawns, gardens, roofs.

The Monticello neighborhood is well-connected to neighboring Shillito Park
The Monticello neighborhood is well-connected to neighboring Shillito Park

A couple of things stood out to me here.  The first is that the sidewalk along Monticello (at least on one side of the street) marches right into Shillito park.  This is nice, perhaps a little unexpected as I’m used to seeing a sidewalk built by the last house on a block then end abruptly.

The second feature was the appearance of the South Elkhorn Creek, a tributary of the Kentucky River.  The creek is shown above, passing between houses in the neighborhood. I’ve passed over dozens of little streams in my walking in Lexington and it was neat to finally be able to identify one as the headwaters of a creek large enough to have a named watershed.  (The Apple Maps application actually labels another stream in this area as “South Elkhorn Tributary”, though I appreciate them being labeled at all!)

Day 43-Suburban Townhomes and Stormwater

day 43Today’s walk took me to an area just outside of Man O’ War at Boston Road.   My path took me through several distinct areas.  This area is being built out slowly.  Some of the older houses date to the mid 1980’s, but there are newer condos that have been completed within the last few years and there appears to be room for additional construction.  In addition to the housing, the intersection of Man O’ War and Boston Road has two shopping centers including one anchored by a grocery store.

The overall impact is positive. With a mix of housing levels and nearby shopping, the area has as much of a main street vibe as you would expect to find in an essentially suburban area.  (That is, I don’t believe the area was intentionally planned with anything along the lines of a New Urbanist approach.) Despite the rain, I ran into several other people walking which has not been a typical experience for me on mid-day walks in the suburban neighborhoods.

I passed over two separate streams (essentially stormwater ditches), both apparently on their way to South Elkhorn Creek.  The water flows in this area have a definite impact on the street layout, which has long, unconnected streets like Overview.  Some attempt has been made to make these streams pleasant (for example, a small pond along Boston Road and a trail behind the townhouses on Nadia.  The results are mixed, but it’s a step up from trapping the water underground.

What works: mixture of housing and retail

What doesn’t: Superblocks