‘A love letter to downtown’ More than 2-mile Lexington downtown trail officially opens
A 2.2-mile section of Town Branch trail that goes from Central Bank Center to Midland Avenue and Third Street has been officially completed.
The downtown portion of the trail, called the Town Branch Commons, has been under construction for nearly four years.
But it’s been more than a decade in the making.
“Town Branch Commons was a 10-year project born of imagination, persistence, determination and a lot of hard work by a lot of people,” said former Mayor Jim Gray, who first envisioned the trail more than a decade ago.
The Commons section connects Town Branch Trail to the Legacy Trail, creating a 22-mile loop that goes from downtown to the Kentucky Horse park.
The Town Branch Commons trail cost $22 million to construct. Construction on the project has been delayed multiple times. It was originally slated to be completed in 2020.
When Gray first started talking to people about the possibility of a downtown trail more than a decade ago, not many people got it or backed the idea, he said.
“I would quote Victor Hugo who said, ‘There’s nothing more important than an idea whose time has come.’ And most of the time they would roll their eyes at me. But a few would smile and that was good,” Gray said Thursday during an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the MET at the corner of Third Street and Midland Avenue.
But it took a lot of work. The city applied and was at first denied a federal transportation grant. But then in 2016, the city finally secured $14 million in federal funding, which gave the project the much-needed cash to proceed, said Gray, who is now the secretary of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
“It took a community,” Gray said. “It’s a milestone for the entire city.”
The project was paid for using a combination of federal transportation grants, state transportation grants and city money. The city paid approximately $11.8 million.
The Town Branch Commons Trail will eventually go through the proposed Town Branch Park adjacent to Central Bank Center and connect to the remaining portions of the Town Branch Trail along Manchester Street.
Construction on the privately-funded public park will begin in 2023.
Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton praised Gray and more than a decade’s worth of council members who have supported the project.
“There was nothing easy about it,” Gorton said. “We did construction right though the heart of downtown. It was all difficult.”
Yet, the trail will help not only connect downtown to the countryside, it “is a path to economic vitality, healthy living and our beautiful Bluegrass countryside. It’s the kind of quality of life investment that people in Lexington treasure and visitors travel here to enjoy,” Gorton said.
Gray said the design also allows cyclists, pedestrians and motorists to move quickly but safely through downtown.
Bringing in the city’s East End, spurring private investment
The trail follows the path of the Town Branch Creek, which Lexington was founded on in 1775.
The trail connects Lexington’s past with its future, said Gov. Andy Beshear during Thursday’s ceremony.
But it also makes sure that Lexington’s East End, a key cultural and economic center for the city’s Black population, is connected to the rest of the city.
The memorial Garden named for legendary Black jockey Isaac Murphy “provides the link for this trail to the 12-mile Legacy (Trail),” Beshear said Thursday. “Just a block away is the Charles Young Park, named for the trail-blazing military officer who I was proud to promote to general when he was denied that rank so long ago.”
U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, said the trail has already spurred private investment, including the development of the MET, the mixed-use development on the corner of Midland Avenue and Third Street that includes apartments, artist studios, restaurants and other retail space.
“It goes to show the economic impact of public investment resulting in private sector activity,” Barr said. Barr helped support the city’s efforts to get federal transportation grants.
The 14-foot-wide trail is also more than just a transportation project. It is also green infrastructure. It features native plants and 300 trees. The design also addresses storm water runoff with the implementation of urban rain gardens and bioswales, planting areas designed to collect and filter rainfall.
Kate Orff, a prominent landscape architect who designed the trail, called Thursday’s opening of the Town Branch Commons “a catalytic project.”
The trail is a “love letter to the Bluegrass landscape” and a “love letter to downtown Lexington” that now connects the two, she said.
Construction is now complete. But the story of the Town Branch Commons is just beginning, she said.
Orff, founding principal of SCAPE, said other communities will now look to Lexington for ideas on how to implement similar projects.
“To Lexington, the eyes are on you now,” Orff said. “This is a significant, singular accomplishment. Cities and towns across the United States are trying to envision and implement projects exactly like this.”
This story was originally published October 13, 2022 at 1:55 PM.
