UK landscape architecture research highlights benefits of Town Branch Commons

LEXINGTON, Ky. — University of Kentucky landscape architecture faculty and students contributed to a national case study documenting more than 20 environmental, social and economic benefits provided by Town Branch Commons, an innovative linear park that connects Lexington's downtown to diverse neighborhoods and the surrounding Bluegrass landscape.

The research was funded through the Landscape Architecture Foundation's Case Study Investigation (CSI) program, which pairs faculty-student research teams with leading practitioners to document exemplary landscape architecture projects and help bridge the gap between academia and practice.

Jordan Phemister, a lecturer at the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment and research fellow, led the project with student research assistant Mitchell Kubera, who received a Martin-Gatton CAFE undergraduate research grant. The team visited the site beginning in 2020 when construction started and tracked progress through completion in 2022.

Lexington was founded in the late 1700s along Town Branch, a fork of Elkhorn Creek and the city's original water source. Due to flooding and sanitation concerns, the creek was gradually covered over and buried beneath Midland Avenue, Vine Street and Rupp Arena, where it remains today.

In the early 2000s, a grassroots community effort began to reimagine downtown Lexington and its relationship to the buried Town Branch. Led by Town Branch Trail, Inc., this effort led to an international design competition and the construction of the 2.2-mile corridor, completed in 2022.

The research team documented significant benefits. A "road diet," which reduced vehicular travel lane widths along Vine Street and Midland Avenue, dedicates more space for walking, biking and native plantings while reducing vehicle speeds and collisions. Rain gardens interspersed along the corridor capture and treat approximately 25,000 cubic feet of stormwater and reduce annual runoff by 29%.

The study found that the separated sidewalks and plantings help people feel safer and more connected, increasing bike and pedestrian activity. Town Branch Commons also encourages visits to local businesses along the corridor, contributing to increased visitor spending and helping catalyze over $110 million in municipal, grant and philanthropic investments in newly developed or renovated parks and a new Fayette County Public Schools building.

Gresham Smith, the design and engineering firm that oversaw design and construction, was integral to the research effort. "Working closely with UK has been incredibly rewarding," said Erin Masterson, senior landscape architect at Gresham Smith and a 2008 UK graduate. "The extensive number of people involved throughout the life of this project truly embodies what it means to be community-driven."

Phemister emphasized the project's value as an educational resource. "The research and findings from Town Branch Commons help all of us — students, educators, practitioners, communities — understand the breadth of our profession and enrich our ability to advocate for the value of landscape architecture in designing the public realm."