Short Street pedestrian pilot project to be discontinued this spring

A pilot project designed to make Short Street more pedestrian friendly will be discontinued in the spring, city officials said Monday.

The project —which created more seating, added art and improved pedestrian crossings on the street— caused headaches for some businesses in the popular downtown Lexington restaurant corridor. The redesign of the street coupled with construction of the nearby 21c Museum Hotel created traffic backups and parking problems during the trial period, some businesses in the area have said.

Dowell Hoskins Squire, Lexington’s environmental quality and public works commissioner, said in an email that renovation of the former Fayette County courthouse, which borders Short Street, will force the city to discontinue the pilot project.

“The ongoing construction along Upper Street and upcoming courthouse renovation has and will further complicate the success of the existing pilot project. For this reason, Short Street will be returned to its original configuration this spring,” Hoskins Squire wrote.

Jeff Fugate, president of the Lexington Downtown Development Authority, said a timeline for the street to be returned to its previous state has not been established. The weather will play a big role in when the street can be repainted and restriped. Because it was a pilot project, none of the changes in street design was permanent. The benches and tables, chairs and planters were surplus from the city’s parks and recreation department. The plants and art work were mostly donated or loaned to the city.

The project used paint to increase sidewalk space for many restaurants. In addition, some of the parking on Short Street between North Broadway and North Limestone was changed. The pilot project was unveiled in late August.

“Because it was a pilot project we didn’t want to go and spend a bunch of money if we were later going to be tinkering with it,” Fugate said. “We were able to put together the project on a pretty limited budget.”

The city spent $183,000 on the changes.

The city received a lot of feedback on the pilot project. The changes resulted in more pedestrian activity and improved pedestrian safety, Fugate said. But there were issues with traffic and parking, he said.

“It was a pilot, and the thing about pilots is you are not going to get everything right,” Fugate said. Utility and construction work associated with the 21c Museum Hotel at Upper and Main streets complicated the short Street changes, he said.

Ranada West-Riley, the chef and co-owner of Lexington Diner, said the project looked good on paper but in practice it turned into a traffic nightmare and led to a dip in sales at her restaurant at Upper and Short streets.

“You could see wrecks happen almost all day long,” she said. “People didn’t understand what was going on.”

Part of the improvements included back-in parking on part of the street. “It’s such a short corridor people didn’t have the space to back into spaces,” West-Riley said.

The back-in or angled parking on Short Street near North Limestone will be eliminated and parallel parking will return, Hoskins Squire said.

Sales were down at Lexington Diner by several thousand dollars for August, September and October compared to the previous year, West-Riley said. Utility work in front of the diner continued for months, making it difficult for her customers to find parking, she said.

“We would have the water company come and do work and then cover up the street, and then the gas company would come and tear up the street again,” West-Riley said. “There was no coordination.”

Bob Eidson, co-owner of Belle’s Cocktail House on Market Street and the Bourbon Review, a magazine that has offices above the Bluegrass Tavern across from the former courthouse, said he heard a lot of positive comments. Pedestrians who came downtown at night liked it.

“The greatest cities are very walkable cities,” Eidson said. “I think what they did on Short Street added to the walkability. A lot of people used this space and they felt safe within the space.”

Eidson said 20 years ago, no one came downtown. Now Lexington has a night life and an interesting arts and entertainment scene that helps keep and attract young professionals. Thanks to the University of Kentucky, Transylvania University and Bluegrass Community & Technical College, Lexington has a lot of young people. But after they graduate, they leave and go to cities such as Nashville because they want to work, exercise and dine within the same area, Eidson said.

If Lexington wants to keep young professionals, it needs to embrace walkable cities and pilot projects such as Short Street, Eidson said.

Construction on a $30 million overhaul of the former Fayette County Courthouse could begin as early as this spring, but a timeline has not been set. Fugate, of the Lexington Downtown Development Authority, said that before construction begins, area businesses will be notified by the city of any potential changes.

Fugate said after courthouse project is completed, the city might revisit Short Street.

“Even before this project started, there have been a lot of changes on this street,” he said. Three years ago there were only a few restaurants. Now there are nearly a dozen.

“The success of Thursday Night Live and the farmers market has changed the way that street is being used,” Fugate said. “There are still a lot of issues that still need to be addressed.”

This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 3:06 PM with the headline "Short Street pedestrian pilot project to be discontinued this spring."