Worst U.S. City for Walking Takes Steps for Improvement

Oklahoma City ranked dead last for walkability in a 2009 study of 500 communities by Prevention magazine and the American Podiatric Medical Association, earning the title of "worst U.S. walking city." "Bleak" is how Jeff Speck, urban planner and author of Walkable City, describes walking in Oklahoma City seven years ago. "Traffic sped too fast ... for pedestrians to feel comfortable on the sidewalks ... oversized traffic lanes encouraged highway speeds," he wrote in Planning magazine. Mick Cornett, the city's Republican mayor since 2004, notes, "We had built an incredible quality of life, if you happened to be a car. But if you were a person, you were seemingly combating the car all day." Then, a year after the walk rankings, the city again found itself in the harsh glare of unwanted media attention. This time Men's Fitness magazine stigmatized Oklahoma City as the "No. 2 fattest city" in America. Among the country's 100 largest cities, only Miami was more corpulent. But that's all changing now. Voters approved an ambitious $18 million sidewalk improvement fund as part of an initiative that also included money for parks, transit, bike trails and senior wellness centers around town. Four busy streets heading into downtown are now being narrowed, with bike lanes and new "smart intersections" that provide walkers more safety with "refuge island" medians in the middle of streets and clearly marked crosswalks. So what's driving all this pedestrian progress? Mayor Cornett,...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news