The city of Winchester, KY, participated in Smart Growth America’s (SGA) 2025 Complete Streets Leadership Academy with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), Walk-Bike Clark County, and local residents to design and install a quick-build demonstration project on a state-owned road. After delays to avoid winter weather, Winchester’s project to narrow travel lanes and install bike paths on Boone Avenue started up again this spring and will remain in place for the rest of summer 2026.

Boone Avenue, or KY-627, is a state route that runs through a residential neighborhood in Winchester. The neighborhood feels peaceful–with large trees and old houses–and serves as a key route to local schools. But the wide road invites fast speeds and heavy truck traffic, and insufficient sidewalks, bike infrastructure, and crosswalks make it unsafe and uncomfortable for students or families to walk or bike to school.

Through SGA’s Leadership Academy, neighborhood residents, city staff, and Walk-Bike Clark County worked with KYTC to design a temporary traffic calming project on Boone Avenue to narrow lanes, add a buffered bike lane, and install crosswalks. The academy included an in-person workshop in May 2025, where the SGA team presented topics including the purpose of Complete Streets and the benefits of quick-build demonstration projects to city leaders and staff.

Any changes to Boone Avenue require approval from KYTC because it is a state-owned road. Close collaboration between the city and KYTC District 7 meant final design and permitting were straightforward, but took place later in the fall. With impending winter weather and concerns about the longevity of the materials, the team decided to delay the project. A spring installation would allow the quick build to be in the ground for many more months, giving the city even more time to collect data on the project and the neighborhood more time to benefit from it.

This timeline came with a few challenges: community expectations, staff turnover, and city capacity. The team had hosted a community engagement event in June 2025 to gather input on the project; however, the delayed timeline meant nearby residents were left waiting for street improvements longer than expected. KYTC brought the project back into focus for residents through a press release and a Facebook post a week out from construction, linking to the city website for more context. Messaging from the city about the new timeline was made challenging by turnover among city staff, including the strategic communications position. This meant that city officials have had to rely on residents on the project team for outreach and social media content. That limited capacity–which also included limited staff time and a lack of in-house traffic engineers–was an additional challenge for project execution, but commitment from city staff and leadership, as well as volunteer neighbors, kept it moving forward.

Striping, crosswalks, bike lane markings, and curb extensions were installed by a contractor the first week of June, with delineators following shortly. The team is still discussing the use of additional flex posts and decorative paint, so the project will likely continue to expand over the summer. The city will conduct more formal traffic counts and speed measurements within a month or two of installation.

The Winchester-Clark County Chamber of Commerce celebrated the project installation at a ribbon-cutting event on Boone Avenue and College Street in June. Attended by the mayor, city staff, local partners, and neighborhood residents, this event marked the beginning of data collection and engagement efforts on the quick build. The team plans to also host a block party later this summer to survey residents and secure further community feedback.

Even before data collection, the partnerships and skills built throughout Winchester’s first quick-build project have made it a resounding success. Within the first few days of installation, Public Works Director Brian Sewell received multiple compliments from nearby residents and drivers who observed people driving slower, with more awareness of people crossing the street.

“We’ve lived on Boone Avenue for several years, and speeding and heavy truck traffic often made it difficult to cross the street,” shared Andrew and Maria Quick, who live near the Boone Avenue and College Street intersection. “The new crosswalk striping and pedestrian crossing signs immediately changed the feel of the street. With all the changes, it is now much clearer to drivers that people are walking and biking here, and we’ve seen more drivers slowing and stopping at crosswalks, even semis. While temporary, these improvements show how simple changes can make the street feel noticeably safer. We hope this project helps guide future permanent improvements.”

Lessons learned from Winchester’s quick build:

• Time your project appropriately to have the most impact. Postponing installation until the spring meant the project could have been in place for many more months than originally anticipated. Consider how your project can work with the weather, the school year, and other events in your community to get the most out of a quick build.
• Keep the conversation going, even through lulls. The Winchester team made sure the quick-build project plans didn’t get lost in the winter months. When it became time for installation in the spring, the project leads brought the team back together, caught them up on the new timeline, and ran full speed ahead with getting the project into the ground. The team also made sure to communicate the new timeline with residents, reminding neighbors of the input they’d given the past summer and what to expect with the new installation. Make sure to stay in touch with your team even during slow periods of the project to keep up the momentum and partner awareness for when the timing is right.
• Celebrate the wins. A ribbon-cutting kicked off Winchester’s first quick-build project. The event gave the community an opportunity to gather together, to see the project first-hand, and to hear from team members and local leaders about the importance of projects like this. Highlighting the work it takes to make safer streets and bringing attention to the ongoing survey and other engagement can help make the case for more road improvements, temporary or otherwise!

Learn more about Winchester’s quick-build demonstration project design and development process in the Kentucky Complete Streets Leadership Academy report and case study. Keep up with Boone Avenue Safety Improvements at the city's website.

This publication was made possible by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Cooperative Agreement CDC-RFA-PW-24-0080). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC. These efforts are part of the CDC’s Active People, Healthy Nation Initiative that is working to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027.