Do-It-Yourself Guide: Survey your neighborhood for ‘walkability’
By Nora Macaluso
(Public Access Journalism)

When’s the last time you said, “Let’s go for a walk around the block?”
If the answer is, “What’s a block?,” then you might want to think about how accessible your neighborhood really is.
 
With the exception of some urban centers, most neighborhoods are far from ideal. But there are steps you can take to raise awareness of the need for “walkability.” In fact, advocates say, the grassroots level is where most change is taking place.
 
Taking pictures of school children trying to cross a busy street to get to their bus stop, getting residents to petition for traffic lights or sidewalks, and campaigning for stores in low-income communities are examples of ways to get the attention of the elected officials who determine how transit and land-use dollars are spent.
 
These grass-roots actions are a vital part of getting policies changed, said Jacky Grimshaw, vice president for policy at the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a Chicago-based group dedicated to improving urban living.
 
James Emery, a researcher at the University of North Carolina’s School of Public Health, Health Behavior and Health Education, has developed a rating system that can be tailored to specific communities. And a broader assessment, a “walkability checklist,” is available from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
 
A version of Emery’s method also is used by the AARP’s and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Active for Life program in Richmond, Va., to help seniors make their neighborhoods better suited for walking.

The real question raised by these surveys: Would you walk more if some small changes — a traffic light, stop sign or sidewalk, for example — were made?
 
Even if you think you know your neighborhood pretty well, it’s important to do a total assessment, says Brian Jacks, coordinator of the Richmond program. “There can be vast discrepancies even within a small neighborhood,” he said. “Even if there are (walkable) areas within the path from someone’s home to the grocery store, there may be two or three streets that are impassable that make the whole trip impossible.”
 
Whether you live in the city, the suburbs or in a small country town, you can put your community to the test. Chances are the answers to some of the following questions will surprise you, especially if you, like most Americans, tend to drive when you’re running errands or taking the kids to school.
 
To start, pick a destination, like a school, friend’s house or store, that’s less than a mile away. Then walk to it, keeping the following in mind:
— Is there room to walk? Are there sidewalks or shoulders? If there are sidewalks, do they stop and start up again? Are they in good condition, or are they cracked and broken?
— Is it easy to cross streets? Are traffic signals long enough? Do cars, trees, signs or plants block your view of oncoming traffic?
— Are drivers along the route sensitive to pedestrians? Do they look before turning corners or backing out of driveways? Is speed a problem?
— Especially important if you’re walking with children: Is it easy to follow safety rules, like crossing at crosswalks and obeying traffic lights? Or do you have to walk out of your way to get to a crosswalk? Or sprint across the road to dodge speeding cars?
— And finally, is the walk pleasant? Are the streets lined with grass, trees and flowers, or is there litter, trash and empty buildings? Would you feel safe walking the route at night?
 
Once you’ve got results, take to them to your town planning board meeting, public works department or local traffic engineer. Start a petition circulating in your community. Or go right to the top: Submit your ideas online to the U.S. Department of Transportation at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reauthorization/, as it plans improvements to the nation’s highways and byways.
 
For more information on:
— National Highway Transportation Safety Association’s walkability and bikeability checklists: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov— Walkable Communities Inc.: www.walkable.org; (386) 454-3304
— National Center for Bicycling and Walking: www.bikewalk.org; (202) 463-6622
— The Sierra Club, an environmental group that offers tips on making neighborhoods more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly: www.sierraclub.org; (415) 977-5500

Freelancer Nora Macaluso spent nine years as a writer and editor for Bloomberg LP business news wire, in the radio, television, print and multimedia divisions.


(c) 2003, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.