Lexington

Understand

History

Founded in 1775, 17 years before Kentucky became a state, the fledgling campsite was named Lexington when settlers received news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord which had opened the Revolutionary War just a few months prior. (Many people today assume it to be the other way around, since Lexington, Kentucky, is much larger and more well-known than the eponymous Lexington, Massachusetts.)

Lexington was one of the first cities in the country to enact urban growth legislation, controlling lot sizes and requiring suburban expansion to be continuous. This has largely protected the Bluegrass Region's picturesque landscapes from suburban encroachment. Lexington's urban development thus has a fairly sharp dividing line between suburb and countryside, and an interconnected metropolitan network of cities has developed with Lexington at its core, surrounded by a ring of smaller picturesque towns that have benefited from Lexington's prosperity and the auxiliary cities of Frankfort and Richmond, both of which are 40 minutes' drive in opposite directions.

Climate

Read and watch

Tourist information

Get in

By plane

• Louisville (Standiford Field SDF) and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG) are larger airports, each about 1½ hours drive from Lexington.

By train

The nearest passenger train service is Amtrak's Cardinal, with stations in Maysville, and in Cincinnati, Ohio (both are about 1½ hours drive); however, there is only service every other day and both trains arrive and depart at night.

By car

Travellers usually access Lexington via one of the two major interstates that arc around the northern and eastern borders of the city. I-64 runs from east to west, connecting Lexington with the largest city in Kentucky, Louisville, to the west. I-75 runs north-south, connecting Lexington with Cincinnati and Knoxville respectively. Neither interstate penetrates into the city. For access to the far side of the city, use New Circle Road (State Route 4), a loop road of which 3/4 is highway-grade, or during non-peak hours you can just take an arterial road through downtown.

The Lexington area is also served by the Martha Layne Collins Bluegrass Parkway, starting near Versailles and ending at I-65 in Elizabethtown, and the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway, which starts just east of Lexington and provides access to the Appalachian region.

By bus

Get around

Lexington is a relatively spread out city, though not large. Unless you are mainly visiting the downtown or the university campus (which are within walking distance of each other), you will find that getting around by car is the most convenient method.

Downtown, Main Street divides cross-streets north and south, and Limestone marks east versus west. Addresses downtown usually specify a cardinal direction, which provides a clue to what area of the city it's in.

By bus

Bus service is provided by Lextran, which provides service from the downtown Transit Center to many parts of town and the airport. Most mainlines run every 35 minutes during business hours; others run every 35 minutes only during rush hours, every 60 minutes all other times. Buses run M-F 5AM-midnight, Sa 7AM-midnight, Su 7AM-9PM. Fare costs $1. If you need to transfer between routes transfers are free and can be attained when paying fare, transfers are good for an hour and a half but cannot be used for round trips on the same route. Buses can be tracked in realtime on Lextran's MyStop website or from Google Maps.

Downtown

Downtown Lexington is compact and easily navigated by foot or bicycle, but the most typical way to get around is by car. Cars can be rented at the airport or at several locations in the city. Taxis should be called in advance as they are not easily hailed on the street. There is a taxi stand in front of the airport. From 6PM to 6AM a taxi stand operates at the corner of Main and Upper Streets, next to the old courthouse.

By car

Lexington's roads form a wheel-and-spokes pattern. Arterial roads radiate from downtown, and New Circle Road (KY-4, sometimes called "Circle 4") forms a circle around the inner city. New Circle Road, an early experiment in urban circumferential expressways, was built before current zoning rules, so that about 1/4 of it is developed with commercial usage, while the rest is 55-mph freeway with on/off ramps. The radial roads are mostly named after the neighboring towns they lead to (e.g. Nicholasville, Richmond, Winchester), although as you approach downtown they take on a different name (e.g. Limestone, Main). Directions in Lexington will frequently start with "Take New Circle to ____ Road (one of the arterials), then turn north/south...."

Man o' War Boulevard forms a half-circle further outside from New Circle Road; however its lower speed limit and abundance of traffic lights make it less ideal for circling the city.

Like any city, Lexington's traffic can be challenging during rush hours. Nicholasville Road has reversible lanes to help the flow. Be careful and aware of the lights as they change throughout the day to accommodate traffic and rush hour. A green arrow indicates appropriate lanes for driving; white turn only arrows indicate a center turning lane; a red X indicates lanes in use by oncoming traffic. If possible, try to avoid traveling north on Nicholasville Road during the evening rush hour, as most lanes switch to southbound traffic to allow people to exit downtown. Be aware of driving near the University of Kentucky on basketball or football days. Downtown can be quite congested when UK plays at Rupp Arena, and Tates Creek Road and Nicholasville Road both move very slowly when UK plays at Kroger Field.

Most of the major arterial streets have multiple names, especially as you approach downtown (Nicholasville Road becomes Limestone; Harrodsburg Road becomes Broadway; etc.). This is also true of many smaller city streets (Winslow Avenue becomes Avenue of Champions, which becomes Euclid Avenue, which becomes Fontaine Road). When you ask for directions, many locals may not know exactly what the street is called where you're going, just remember that the same road may be called any of those at your destination.

Almost all of the arterials, and many smaller roads, are also numbered U.S. Highways or Kentucky State Roads, but no one refers to them by number. The sole exception is New Circle Road, which is KY-4 and sometimes called "Circle 4", but more often called "New Circle".

Stay safe

The Lexington Division of Police, accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), was awarded "Flagship Status" in 2010 for the third consecutive assessment, becoming the first and only municipal police agency in the U.S. to be so honored. The Police department has several special patrol units, including bicycle, Segway, and a mounted patrol.

Lexington's crime rates rank favorably with other cities of its size.

The University of Kentucky campus is patrolled by the University of Kentucky Police Department and is generally quite safe. An initiative called "Cat's Path" is comprised of a series of recommended walking routes that span central campus. The routes were chosen due to their frequent use and accessibility to the main campus destinations. Marked with highly visible signage and paw print ground logos, the Cat's Path is patrolled frequently by University Police, both on foot and in special police golf carts.

Go next

Lexington's central location makes it the ideal base to explore the Bluegrass Region.

Activities

• An hour east of Lexington, the Red River Gorge, offers numerous opportunities for hiking and rock climbing. Natural Bridge State Park features some of the largest stone arches in the eastern United States. Both are located inside the Daniel Boone National Forest.
• Carter Caves is about an hour and a half east of Lexington near the small town of Olive Hill just outside the Huntington area.
• Kings Island, in Mason north of Cincinnati, is an amusement park just under 2 hours from Lexington, famous for The Beast - the world's longest wooden roller coaster for 30+ years.

Bourbon

Bourbon distilleries are plentiful in the area, due to the particular geology of the region that make this distinctively Kentuckian liquor possible. Many distilleries operate tours where you can learn about the processes of mashing, distilling, and aging, and often sample the product. Five are within 30 miles of Lexington.

Small bluegrass towns

• Frankfort, Kentucky's capital city, is 25 miles northwest of Lexington on I-64.
• Midway is a quaint and colorful railroad town that's "midway" between Lexington and Frankfort; stop for a bite to eat and explore the antique and boutique shops downtown. It is one of a ring of small bluegrass towns surrounds Lexington at a radius between 12-20 miles from downtown, including Nicholasville, Versailles, Georgetown, Paris and Winchester.
• Richmond, home of Eastern Kentucky University is 26 miles south of Lexington on I-75.
• Bardstown, 60 miles from Lexington, is Kentucky's second oldest city.
• Berea, 37 miles south of the city, is a major center for folk arts & crafts. Old Town has many working artists studios, and the Kentucky Artisan Center, just off I-75, serves as a visitors' center and showcases the wares of many regional artisans.
• Danville, 35 miles southwest of Lexington, is the "City of Firsts", and the "Birthplace of the Bluegrass" since the first Constitutional Convention in the West was held at Constitution Square in 1792 and Kentucky's first Constitution was signed there.
• Harrodsburg, 32 miles southwest of Lexington, is Kentucky's oldest city. Just outside it is Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, America's largest restored Shaker community, with 34 carefully restored buildings and 3,000 acres of preserved farmland.

Smaller towns and cities in surrounding regions

• Morehead, 65 miles east on I-64. Home to Morehead State University and Cave Run Lake, the largest in eastern Kentucky.
• Huntington, WV, 126 miles east on I-64, on the banks of the Ohio River and firmly within the steep, lush Appalachian Plateau; the second-largest city in West Virginia, home to Marshall University.
• Bowling Green, 161 miles southwest in the Pennyroyal Plateau region, home to Western Kentucky University and nearby Mammoth Cave National Park.
• Pikeville, Prestonsburg and Paintsville are just over 2 hours east.
• Hazard is 115 miles southeast
• Owensboro is 172 miles west, less than a 3 hour drive.
• Charleston, WV is 175 miles east, about a 3 hour drive.

Big cities

• Louisville, 79 miles west, is Kentucky's largest city and is famous for—among other things—the Kentucky Derby and the Louisville Slugger Museum.
• Cincinnati, Ohio, is 82 miles to the north. As Kentucky was a slave state and Ohio was free, this route north was one of the more popular Underground Railroad lines leading to the freedom shores of southwestern Ontario just across Lake Erie.
• Knoxville is 172 miles south, less than a 3 hour drive.
• Indianapolis is 186 miles northwest about 3 hours away.
• Columbus is 190 miles northeast, a little over 3 hours away.
• Nashville is 214 miles southwest, 3 and a half hours away.