When you think of street art in Lexington, the first image that might come to mind is a certain colorful addition to the intersection of North Limestone and Short Street.
"Now let's open up these crosswalks. We have a rainbow ribbon to cut..." Mayor Linda Gorton said, as the city reintroduced its downtown rainbow crosswalks.
And while that original rainbow crosswalk celebrating Pride was deemed a safety hazard by the Federal Highway Administration and eventually redesigned and unveiled a second time, CivicLex's Adrian Bryant says more and more cities are launching official street art programs with the goal of increasing safety.
"And they've been doing it as a kind of traffic calming," he says. "Because if you have street art that is bright and visible but also takes up space on the road, drivers will pay more attention to it and will generally slow down, and it makes traffic a little safer in a way that is fun and vibrant and also relatively cheap."
But don't expect an official Lexington Street art program anytime soon.
A presentation being heard this week in city hall is just a first step, one that could lead to drafts over the coming months as the city considers how to fund it, how the art would be chosen, and what types of safety issues might arise.