[Sting 11]

at 6am in Lexington there would have been no other deaprting or arriving traffic, so permission to cross may have been cursory.

Absolutely. The clearance was likely, "Comair 191, taxi to runway 22.", which would have implied a crossing of runway 26. Only had the controller added, "hold short of runway 26" would the pilot have had to stop there.

[AGreatPer]

"The clearance was likely, "Comair 191, taxi to runway 22.", which would have implied a crossing of runway 26. Only had the controller added, "hold short of runway 26" would the pilot have had to stop there."

That makes more sense than anything that we are hearing on TV.