Bike Walk Macon’s new director is ready to ride

After more than a decade serving as executive director of Bike Walk Macon, Rachel Umana will pass the handlebars to education and engagement manager Kaylee Pruitt. 

“I’ve really been set up for success,” said Pruitt, who joined Bike Walk in 2021.

She worked closely with Umana, who helped expand the recreational organization into a local advocacy group at the forefront of Macon’s pedestrian safety efforts.

Umana taught Pruitt everything she knows about mobility advocacy. Pruitt plans to build on those efforts by participating in various boards and working to destigmatize public transportation, she said. 

“Public transit is really a human right,” she said. “It’s meant for everybody.”

She does not officially step into the role until May 20, but Pruitt “hit the ground running” as interim director after Umana announced her departure in March and moved to Maryland in April. 

Pruitt said she intends to join the pedestrian safety review and the Macon Transit Authority boards in order to continue relationships fostered by Umana. 

She also plans to get Bike Walk more involved with Newtown Macon’s ongoing Ocmulgee Heritage Trail project, which aims to connect Downtown Macon with nearby neighborhoods along the Ocmulgee River.

A Jones County native, Pruitt grew up on a “washboard dirt road” and “didn’t even realize how important transportation was” growing up. 

She didn’t learn about such infrastructure until she worked at the Hay House and moved to downtown Macon in the mid 2000s, later volunteering with Bike Walk in 2016, a year after it first launched. 

“It’s just been a journey to learn everything,” said Pruitt, who used to be a wedding planner.

She saw firsthand one of Bike Walk’s earliest initiatives, Macon Connects, which sought to create the world’s largest pop-up bike lane. In collaboration with Newtown Macon and funded by a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation grant, the project led to the development of a community action plan that included improvements to pedestrian infrastructure.

“If you build it, they will come,” Pruitt said of the project’s outcome. “If we had better infrastructure people would use it.”
A third of Macon residents don’t have a driver’s license or access to a vehicle for transportation, she added. 

“When the road is built for walkability, it works better for everybody,” Pruitt said. 

She noted the hardest part of her new leadership role will be balancing compassion and advocacy when navigating topics such as pedestrian death and the need for safer streets.

Despite any challenges on the horizon, Pruitt said she believes Macon holds “so much potential for connectivity between downtown, midtown, in-town.”

In fact, Macon’s ideal size and community focus makes it easier to work alongside county officials and build lasting relationships.

Macon is “small enough to really make a change and really have a say in what’s happening,” Pruitt said. “If we were in Atlanta, your voice can get lost.”