Walk Score

In my usual time-wasting trolling, I ran across a double mention of the website Walk Score courtesy of Alex Wetmore via 100KM's blog. Because I live, in my estimation, in a very walkable neighborhood, I tried it out to get my "walkability" score. The website's parameters include the following:

Walkable Neighborhoods

What makes a neighborhood walkable?

• A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a discernable center, whether it's a shopping district, a main street, or a public space.
• Density: The neighborhood is compact enough for local businesses to flourish and for public transportation to run frequently.
• Mixed income, mixed use: Housing is provided for everyone who works in the neighborhood: young and old, singles and families, rich and poor. Businesses and residences are located near each other.
• Parks and public space: There are plenty of public places to gather and play.
• Pedestrian-centric design: Buildings are placed close to the street to cater to foot traffic, with parking lots relegated to the back.
• Nearby schools and workplaces: Schools and workplaces are close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.

Streets Designed for Everyone

Complete Streets are roads are designed for everyone who uses them, including bicyclists, pedestrians of all ages and abilities, and people getting on and off transit vehicles. These streets are:

• Accessible: There are wheelchair ramps, plenty of benches with shade, sidewalks on all streets, etc.
• Well-connected: Streets form a connected grid that improves traffic by providing many routes to any destination.
• Built for the right speed: Lanes are narrow or traffic calming is in place to control speed.
• Comfortable: Pedestrian medians at intersections, count-down crosswalk timers, bicycle lanes, protected bus shelters, etc. make the street work better for those outside of a car.

I find many of these well-intentioned but "grid-centric", or even "city-centric". By that, I contend that things like needing a "center" per se, or buildings "close to the street" imply that they are looking for NYC or Boston, the old-school ethos. I bring it up b/c my 'hood received a score of 35/100, which is quite low. This morning, though, I walked the boys to a coffee shop, our church and then I walked to the grocery all in about 2.5m. The entire time we/I walked on side walks, crossing shaded streets with low traffic. We/I passed homes, apartments, a school, multiple businesses and stores of all types, another church, a couple taverns restaurants and a huge neighborhood swim club. No, the streets aren't layed out grid-style like NYC or like every road in the land-grant Midwest. In fact, it's a slightly hilly area (well, for the 'Ville), but it's comfortable. So, I guess it's not "walkable", but I would put my little neck of the woods up against any other neighborhood around.

This is the 4th day in a row I've had a good walk. Later after some car-bound errands I'm going to get on the bike. I hope it stays cool. I've had some issues dealing with the heat this summer. I got extremely hot on a ride not long ago, and the last 2 times I've played tennis (and not what I would call strenuous tennis) I've really withered. I keep waiting for another ticker episode like I had a week or so ago. I just wanna' be healthy.