Sunday, May 22, 2022

IN PRAISE OF THE HUMBLE SIDEWALK

ACCESSIBLE SIDEWALKS ARE THE BEST INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT COMMUNITIES CAN MAKE

Wide, unobstructed, well-maintained sidewalks with no gaps or dead ends are the best infrastructure communities of all sizes can invest in. 

From urban to suburban to rural areas, sidewalks provide democratic, inexpensive access to transit, parks, jobs, education, and all aspects of daily living.

Yet many communities — even in denser, urban areas — lack these much-needed networks. Dallas is “missing more than 2,000 miles of sidewalk,” while Denver went viral last summer when TikTok account @PedestrianDignuity began cataloguing its crumbling, inadequate, or nonexistent walkways. 

The city launched a mobility plan in 2018 to address the fact that 10 percent of its streets lack sidewalks, while 30 percent can't support wheelchairs, according to nonprofit WalkDenver.

 

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