Cul de Sacs vs Street Corners: What Is Your Neighborhood’s “Walk Score”?

Do you know there is a “walk score” that has been developed to find out if you live in a walkable neighborhood?  It calculates the pedestrian friendliness of your address by locating nearby stores, restaurants and parks.  A recent article in the New York Times cites that “walkability” is becoming an increasingly important factor in selecting a home.  The ability to walk places without having to get into a car is listed as one of the most important reasons people choose to live Downtown.

Of course there are  obvious health benefits to walking, but it’s clearly something more that causes people to want to leave their cars behind.  Imagine making those routine, short trips to do errands on foot.  You greet your neighbors on the sidewalk and come home from the dry cleaners having had a brisk walk, rather than feeling annoyed over the difficulty in finding a parking place.  Then layer in the burden of devoting more and more money (gasoline cost) and time (traffic congestion) to serve your dependency on your car… 

Welcome to Downtown living!  Since suburban patterns of living are designed for the car, breaking free often means choosing to live in more densely populated areas in the Downtown, where the pedestrian experience is enhanced as shops can locate closer together and mass transit can be offered as an alternative to walking for longer trips and inclement weather.

Economic forces have made it increasingly clear to our Raleigh City officials of the need to find alternatives to suburban sprawl, and to begin a concerted effort focused on re-development and infill.  The 2030 Plan adopted last year is designed to funnel much of the city’s growth to Downtown, and this year the city has embarked on an ambitious project to rewrite the long standing Development Codes.

Changing behavior can be a hard thing to do, and the Downtown Living Advocates appreciate the challenges facing the City of Raleigh, which has only recently started to focus on luring more businesses and residents to make the choice to locate Downtown. 

The DLA also understands why “walkability” is such an important part in making our Downtown Raleigh an attractive place to live.   Our members live downtown. Raleigh sidewalks line our front doors.  We know first hand how the pedestrian experience is enhanced with a greater variety of ground floor retail, sidewalks that are wide, clean and safe, and with the proper balance of open space.  In many ways, this is a return to the settings we all knew before malls and cul-de-sacs.  

Our group is closely following and supporting the city’s efforts in revitalizing the Downtown, including Development Codes, which establish the rules that define how development happens on our streets and neighborhoods . . and support “walkability”.

We invite you to join us in this important effort.