Mayor Gorton announces opening of final portion of Legacy Trail

Click on map to enlarge.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Thursday, Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton announced the opening of the final portion of the city’s Legacy Trail.

“We’re here today to cut a ribbon and open the final section of the Legacy Trail,” said Mayor Gorton, during a news conference. “This part of the trail is located mainly in the Third and Fourth Street areas.

“We started planning the Legacy Trail in 2007,” said Mayor Gorton. “This all grew out of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.”

At the time, Mayor Gorton says Lexington citizens wanted something to enjoy long after the games.

The 12-mile long Legacy Trail is made possible through private, public and neighbors.

“Our East End neighbors are an incredible group of people and this would not have happened without them,” shared Mayor Gorton.

The Legacy Trail is a mixed-use trail that Mayor Gorton says thousand use.

Councilmember James Brown called phase three the ‘welcome mat’ to the east end and also, “incorporates the rich history of several downtown neighborhoods.”

“I believe that this phase of the trail, even though it was the most challenging, I think this phase of the trail has the most opportunity,” said Brown. “The most opportunity to bring people together, the most opportunity to build relationships.”

In addition to local, state and federal funding, Mayor Gorton said, “The Bluegrass Community Foundation and the Knight Foundation played a huge part in making this trail a reality.”

Lisa Adkins, CEO of the Bluegrass Community Foundation, said, “Creating public spaces that matter with a focus on the development of equitable green space is a priority for us.”

Adkins said a multi-year $2.5 million investment from longstanding partner the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, “made so many enhancements to the trail possible including robust community, neighborhood and business engagement.”

According to Mayor Gorton, the contractor was Pace Contracting. The engineering design team was Strand Associates.

The Legacy Trail map can be found HERE.

You can read more about the history of the trail HERE.