Crossing the street in Lexington could become a lot more colorful. A Lexington city council committee has approved guidelines for establishing artistic crosswalks across the community. Details of decorative crosswalks and crosswalk art were spelled out last week. Nancy Albright is the city’s Environmental Quality and Public Works Commissioner.
“Either decorative or crosswalk art would have other traffic control devices such as a stop sign, a yield sign, potentially a school zone or traffic signal,” said Albright.
A decorative crosswalk includes patterns and/or textures in earth tones or dark colors. While crosswalk art embellishes the crossing using a range of colors and concepts. The guidelines include an application process that could be undertaken by a sponsoring neighborhood. Albright told committee members upkeep would be the responsibility of the sponsor which could also be the city.
Tenth District Council Member Amanda Mays Bledsoe said her interest partly stemmed from a discussion about student safety.
“We’ve been talking about the expansion of Clays Mill for several years. And last summer, you know, we have three schools right there, Mary Queen, Lexington Catholic, and Clays Mill and there are about a thousand kids who cross that area. And so, last summer, I specifically started talking about what we could do to raise the awareness of that particular crosswalk there,” said Mays Bledsoe.
Mays Bledsoe won committee approval to send the issue before the full Lexington Council.
