Kentucky Launches AI Assistant

By Jared Jeffers and Katie Rowe, Contributing Authors

As planners and engineers, we strive to create better and safer streets for the people in communities large and small across Kentucky. We plan and design safer facilities and connect with residents to hear feedback. We educate residents on the options. We strive to serve the public interest, and a key part of that process is transparency and making the practice of planning more accessible.

Earlier this year, Gresham Smith assisted the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) with the rollout of its first-ever artificial intelligence chatbot assistant to help disseminate guidance and answer questions about its planning and design policies. 

The KYTC Complete Streets, Roads and Highway Helper is a custom-trained digital assistant designed to provide detailed information to professionals regarding guidelines related to transportation planning and engineering. The goal of this project is to use new technology and artificial intelligence to make our work more accessible.

How it Works

To develop the assistant, we trained AI on the KYTC Complete Streets, Roads and Highways Manual. The manual, which was also developed by Gresham Smith, was released in 2022 and represented the first update in 20 years of Kentucky’s pedestrian and bicycle travel policy.

The goal of the assistant is to make KYTC guidance and policy on complete streets more accessible to agencies, other consultants, stakeholders and everyday Kentuckians who have questions about how the manual may affect the design and construction of complete streets in their communities. 

It’s challenging to design “one size fits all” streets, roads and highways that effectively serve all modes, and the original goal of the manual is to set expectations for complete streets across all contexts in urban, suburban, small town and rural communities. 

The new digital assistant can serve as a starting point for practitioners to get their questions answered, without needing to be an expert in complete streets.

Users can access the tool on KYTC’s complete streets website. Ask questions and the assistant generates answers based on the information it has been trained. 

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the information provided, this tool is intended solely as a reference to support professional decision-making. Users are ultimately responsible for applying their own professional judgment and verifying information before implementation or reliance.

Taking the Show on the Road

Publishing an updated manual and digital assistance are only first steps to greater awareness and education. KYTC also holds trainings across Kentucky to educate users about complete streets policies and procedures. 

In fact, the training is a requirement for any consultant practicing in the commonwealth. But the audience for these trainings is much larger than that, and we often see local officials such as county judge executive taking part to learn more about the potential impact for their local communities. 

These trainings also serve as an opportunity for KYTC to connect with advocacy groups across the state, so they better understand the process and procedures that need to be followed for these types of projects.

A Pioneering Document

The 10-chapter manual is a first-of-its-kind piece. Historically, the transportation network in Kentucky has focused primarily on motor vehicle capacity, often to the detriment of people walking, bicycling, using public transportation or other modes of transportation. 

The new manual is a key guiding document for using the Safe Systems Approach to address the needs of all users on Kentucky streets, roads and highways, and it provides safe, connected, accessible and equitable transportation options for everyone.

The manual is innovative in its own right as it includes new and unique ways to include all users on existing infrastructure, test new ideas, realize immediate safety benefits with low-cost tactical urbanism projects, and build community support with pilot projects. 

It goes beyond the installation of transportation facilities, with recommendations and guidance targeted to creating welcoming, vibrant, and healthy corridors and communities through infrastructure, landscaping, lighting and amenities.

It updates and replaces past guidance, and it provides an opportunity to both reflect on past efforts and evaluates new and emerging needs and opportunities to enhance the Complete Streets, Roads, and Highways policy. Intended to support planning and engineering practitioners, transportation agencies, and local communities, it provides in-depth guidance and recommendations for transportation design. 

By shifting from a motor vehicle-centric transportation system to a new, holistic approach for building a network that supports the needs of all users, the manual creates additional momentum toward the safe systems approach to transportation and will guide decisions for communities across the commonwealth. The manual builds upon the most current and emerging national best practices for safe, enjoyable and equitable transportation for all users. 

Easing Access

Harnessing AI along with more traditional outreach like in-person trainings allows us to maximize our outreach to the community. It also provides benefits for KYTC employees, who have a wide range of critical responsibilities. This new tool provides quick and relevant information that can help accelerate and simplify decision making. 

While AI can sound daunting for some, our experience shows that it’s yet another tool in our toolbox for spreading the word and making the practice of planning and engineering more accessible.

Jared Jeffers is a bicycle and pedestrian coordinator at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, and Katie Rowe, P.E., AICP, is Kentucky planning department leader for Gresham Smith.