Why is walkability important?
Safe walkability in and around our neighborhoods, schools, and retail areas can reduce the number of car trips in our communities, reducing pollution and helping people to get more physical activity through everyday trips. There are many steps we can take towards walkability.
Enhance Safety
Reduce Barriers
Reduce Car Trips
Create Connectivity
Reduce the amount of parking between the sidewalk and the store entrance to enhance the safety of people who walk or take transit for their shopping trips.
Limit driveways across sidewalks and paths to reduce barriers to accessibility and the potential for crashes.
Allow for compatible uses near housing to help reduce car trips in our neighborhoods.
In a neighborhood with a mix of uses and connected streets, it's a 10-minute walk to a school, a library, and a park. A neighborhood without connectivity has shopping that's close by, but inaccessible on foot.
Create greater connectivity, via streets or trails, between neighborhoods and schools to allow more students to walk and reduce the cost of busing.
In a connected neighborhood, a student who lives within 1 mile of the school has a 15-minute walk to get there. Without connectivity, a student who lives only 0.3 miles from the school has a 2.5 mile car ride, or a longer trip by bus.
