Why All the Talking about Walking? By Nancy Surprenant, RLA, former SDDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Some of you who attended this fall’s SD Municipal League Conference may have had the opportunity to attend my presentation on conducting walk audits in your community. I’m not sure whether it was the tantalizing topic or the fact it was the last session before they gave away the big screen television that drew such a large crowd! Regardless, I hope you went home from the conference with some great information, but I also hope you went home thinking about why walk audits and the numerous other conference topics are important. Hopefully, you were asking yourself, your fellow council persons or co-workers a variety of questions, such as how did this conference session apply to our community? Why is this topic important to us? Why should we implement this new idea in our community? Or, how do we get this idea, project or program to be successful in the community in which we live and work? The purpose of this article is to help you answer some of those questions on the walk audit topic and, hopefully, help you move ahead with a few ideas to make your community more walkable. So, let’s get started! Why all this talk about walking? Having just completed almost five years with the SD Department of Transportation, I’ve had the opportunity to travel all over throughout our great state and to visit, or at least pass through, many of your communities – big and small. I don’t think I’ve ever driven through Philip, during the day, when I haven’t passed someone walking along Highway 14. I can count on one hand the times I’ve driven from Miller to St. Lawrence and haven’t witnessed a walker or biker on the trail between those two towns. I’ve seen children walking to school, adults walking home from the store with a bag of groceries, folks out walking for exercise, mothers pushing strollers, seniors carefully making their way down town and even folks traveling in their motorized wheelchairs or mobility aid devices down the streets of our small communities. People in South Dakota walk! Some on two legs; some with the aid of two wheels or a cane; some with the aid of four wheels – but no matter the style in which they are doing it, people in South Dakota ‘walk’! 22
Why is walking important to the residents, potential home buyers and visitors to our community? The reasons why walking and walkable communities are important are unlimited, but here are a few quick facts that tell the story: j 32% of children and adolescents in SD are overweight or obese. Physical activity can lower the risk of becoming obese and developing related diseases. (www.HealthySD.gov) j The most preferred form of physical activity, for seniors, is walking. It can be done inside or out and only requires a good pair of shoes. (www.HealthySD.gov) j South Dakota leads the nation in the percentage of young children with both parents in the work force. Seventy-four percent of children younger than six have both parents in the work force. (Rapid City Journal, 2008). With both parents at work, the result is more children walking to and from school and other activities throughout the year. j According to the National Association of Realtors, 77 percent of respondents to their Community Preference Survey said they would ‘look for neighborhoods with abundant sidewalks’. If you are trying to attract homebuyers to your community, walkability is important. j US Census Bureau data shows that over 15% of South Dakota’s population is over 65 years in age. According to a 2012 AARP South Dakota Survey of Sioux Falls residents over age 50, a total of 75% of survey respondents said it was either extremely important or very important for them to remain in their community as long as possible. You likely have elderly residents in your community that are living on their own and may not be able to drive, but still can and still like to walk. What are the three most important City or County ordinances for walkers? 1. An ordinance that requires sidewalk in new developments. Yes, this means in both residential and commercial neighborhoods. And yes, this means even if there is no existing sidewalk on the next property. You have to start somewhere. If you never require the first piece of sidewalk to be built, you will never have sidewalk in your community. Although you can’t change the mistakes of your predecessors, you can change how your community moves forward. You can fill in the gaps later, but start requiring sidewalk now. 2. An ordinance that requires property owners to maintain their sidewalk. Many South Dakota communities have this ordinance already in place, but have not been diligent in enforcing it. Therefore, sidewalks have fallen into disrepair or have been removed and never replaced. Tackle this on a block by SOUTH DAKOTA MUNICIPALITIES
