This Week on Foot

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In Southern California, the week has been full of debate over sidewalks. Angelenos are up in arms because
L.A. may stop footing bills for sidewalk and driveway repairs The City took over sidewalk repairs in the 1970s when it received a hunk of federal money for sidewalk fixes. The money has long since run out, and now the City is hoping to help balance its ailing budget by asking property owners to pay at least a portion of sidewalk repair costs (a common practice in other cities). Not surprisingly, property owners aren't jumping up and down with joy over the proposed change.

Further north, it's No block party in San Francisco, where the City is considering an ordinance to forbid sitting and lying on city sidewalks. Aimed at curbing agressive panhandling in some city neighborhoods, the proposed regulations have led to intense debate among San Franciscans. Some believe that the proposal flies in the face of other city policies that encourage the use of sidewalks as public gathering places, while others point out that law enforcement officers need better tools to deal with panhandlers whose "assaultive" behavior is hurting local businesses.

On the other side of the world, pedestrians in India are also struggling over the issue of sidewalks--or lack thereof. Pune's 55% walkers have minimum facilities on road, and in response the Centre for Science and the Environment has proposed improvements to pedestrian facilities as part of a Comprehensive Transport Policy for the Indian city.

Back in the US, City planners track cyclists, pedestrians to measure trail needs as part of the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project. Counts will take place this fall in 150 cities across the country. Perhaps we'll finally get some decent pedestrian counts out of the work.

In the meantime, we can ponder this question from the Smart Planet blog: Are cul-de-sacs to blame for stifling urban communities? According to one study cited in the article, they are at least to blame for a significant (26 percent) increase in vehicle trips, compared to neighborhoods with better street connectivity.

And on a final, ominous, note: 'Lord Jesus Christ' struck by car in Northampton. You know it's rough out there for pedestrians when God can't cross the street without incident.

Upcoming Walks, Courtesy of WalkSanDiego

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Saturday, May 15, 2010, 9:00 a.m.

Old Town Walk - meet at Caltrans parking lot at Taylor St and Sunset St
(parking in Caltrans lot okay on weekends)

WalkSanDiego joins with San Diego River Foundation on this walk that will explore the history of Old Town/Mission Valley and its relationship with the San Diego River over the past 200 years, including the Old Town State Park, the Presidio, and Presidio Canyon. Lots of interesting history, trivia, and old photos to be shared. This modest paced, four-mile long walk will include several hills and some trails.


Saturday, June 26, 2010; 9:00 a.m.

Kensington Walk – meet in front of the Kensington Library, 4121 Adams Ave.

Join us in celebrating Kensington’s centennial with a walk through this wonderful community, with highlights of its history and a tour through some of the beautiful neighborhoods.
A modest paced, three-mile walk on flat terrain.

New Data from the National Household Travel Survey

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For all the data geeks out there, the final 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) Data is now officially available for download from the NHTS website. The 2009 NHTS includes data on the travel of 150,000 households in the US, representing about around 1 million trips using all modes of travel, all times of day, and all purposes. It's a great source for understanding overall travel patterns in the US (and is the only nationwide source of walking data for non-work trips).

Unfortunately, NHTS data can't be disaggregated to understand the travel of specific states, regions, or cities, because it's only available for the country as a whole. Not only does this make it difficult to apply NHTS to specific areas, there is always the possibility of things being thrown off by the New York Factor (because of its vast population, high density, and unique transportation system, New York City tends to skew nationwide travel data).

Nonetheless, the latest round of data has some interesting info for us ped-heads:

• About 11 percent of all trips in the US are made on foot (compared to about 82 percent by private vehicle, 1 percent by bike, and --this is why I generally favor pedestrian investment over transit spending--4 percent by public transit).
• Relatively few people walk to work (about 6 percent of work trips), but nearly a quarter of all family/personal business and social/recreational trips are walking trips. This is why I feel it's very important to invest in neighborhood walkability: Americans might not be able to walk to the office, but they make up for it by walking a lot on their off time.
• Compared to social and personal trips, school/daycare walking trips are relatively low; only about 10 percent of people walk to school/daycare/religious activities. Yet another argument for the importance of the Safe Routes to School program

This Week on Foot

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This week began with a pedestrian-oriented complaint from the Natural Resources Defence Council on its Switchboard Blog.  Writer Kain Benfield laments, "I wish AIA didn’t define ‘green’ so narrowly." He notes that the recently announced top 10 green projects for 2010 might be environmentally friendly on the inside, but since many of them are located in unwalkable communities, it's a bit misleading to call them "green."

I guess someone was listening, because just a few days later LEED for Neighborhood Development Rating System Launches as Benchmark for Green Neighborhood Design. The new rating system gives points for factors such as walkable design and "transportation efficiency."

New Yorkers were reminded just how important those factors are this week, when there was an Increase Call for Pedestrian Safety After Transportation Advocated Killed by Cab. The death of neighborhood activist Harry Wieder led others in the community to call on the NYPD to provide better access to data on pedestrian safety and traffic management in the city.

Perhaps pedestrians in Illinois will have an easier time than New Yorkers, where in that state a New law requires stopping for pedestrians, not yielding.

Or we could all just move to Europe, where Garmin takes a pedestrian-friendly phone overseas. Here in the US Garmin products focus on providing users driving directions, but in Europe and Asia users "tend to rely more on mass transit" (understatement) so a ped-friendly wayfinder is more marketable.

Award-winning Walkability

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Waiting an extra hour for my presentation at last week's Ventura County Board of Supervisor's hearing was pretty horrid on my nerves, but at least the delay was caused by something interesting: the 2010 Climate Change Action Awards.

An especially happy distraction was Naval Base Ventura County's award for the new Catalina Heights military housing project in Camarillo. Formerly described as "bomb shelter chic," the newly remodeled complex includes about 30 single family homes and 230 townhouses. Shopping, restaurants, the local elementary school and a community center with preschool and daycare services are incorporated into the community design so residents can meet many of their daily needs by walking instead of biking.

As this picture (courtesy of the Ventura County Star) shows, the development has many key walkable design elements: sidewalks, on-street parking, a landscaped parkway, front doors (not garages) oriented towards the street...if only Ventura Blvd could be so lovely. It almost makes me want to join the Navy.