Walkable cities are healthier and happier. Let’s make Lexington one. | Opinion

Living Streets Lexington is a new organization of residents who envision a Lexington where streets are vibrant public places that bring people together and provide many safe and accessible transportation options. This has been a busy month for us — we just wrapped up Lexington’s second annual Week Without Driving challenge and are now gearing up to launch Lexington’s inaugural Transit Advocacy Academy in partnership with Lextran and Fayette Alliance. With the ongoing implementation of Lexington’s Complete Streets policy, and recommendations from the Urban County Council’s STREEET Safety Task Force being reported out this week, this is a great time to get involved with the work we’re doing.

Week Without Driving is a national initiative that draws attention to the fact that there are too many people across the country, including here in Lexington, who are locked out of full access to jobs, education, food, medical appointments, and enjoying all that their city has to offer because they don’t have a car or are otherwise unable to drive.

Many Lexingtonians are trapped in the opposite way, living in areas where driving is the only option to access daily necessities. Those of us who do drive should never take it for granted—as a gentle reminder, we are all one accident or medical emergency away from losing our physical ability to drive, and many of us are one financial crisis away from losing our car. Additionally, those of us who are fortunate enough to live long, full lives will outlive our ability to drive safely and comfortably by as much as a decade. Week Without Driving invites everyone to consider these questions: what kind of city do we want to be? And what kind of investments, policies, and priorities do we want to commit to moving forward?

Week Without Driving is a national initiative that invites drivers to experience the barriers that nondrivers in our community face every day, while connecting with other community members to imagine a future where there are plenty of safe, pleasant, and easy alternatives to driving for everyone.

According to a 2021 Bureau of Transportation Statistics study, the majority of car trips taken in the US are under three miles, and over a quarter are less than a mile. Everyone should have access to the kind of infrastructure that makes it easy to complete a trip of under a mile without a car. Even though this year’s challenge is over, you can continue participating by replacing car trips with other modes of transportation when possible, and talking with your elected officials and neighbors about how to create more choices for getting around Lexington.

If this is a topic that you feel passionate about, we invite you to apply for Lexington’s first Transit Advocacy Academy. Over the course of four Sunday afternoon sessions, participants will learn about public transit, the relationship between land use, density, and transportation planning, the balance between coverage and frequency in a public transit network, and strategies for advocating effectively on behalf of public transit. Applications close this Friday, Oct. 10. Even if you’re not able to participate in the Academy, we encourage anyone who has an interest in this topic to read the book “Human Transit” by Jarrett Walker to help understand how public transit can help to make our city more livable.

Living Streets Lexington envisions a city where a grandmother with failing eyesight can easily catch the bus to get groceries, where a teenager can walk to a friend’s house when they’re bored, and where children can safely bike to school. We know that walkable cities with abundant transportation choices are healthier, happier, more sustainable, and more connected and civically engaged. Lexington’s streets have come a long way in the last 20 years — let’s all work together to make sure that things only get better from here.

As one of the founding members of Living Streets Lexington, Alice cares deeply about streets as shared public spaces and loves being outside, walking, and biking with friends.

This story was originally published October 7, 2025 at 9:53 AM.