http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35099-2003Dec27.html
Residents Struggle to Walk Away From Traffic Obstacles Put People Behind the Wheel for Short Trips By Katherine Shaver Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, December 28, 2003; Page C01 About 900 residents in Sterling's Westerley subdivision live a five-minute walk from a grocery store, a bank and three restaurants. In another few minutes, they can stroll to the movies, the dry cleaner or dozens of other businesses. But when Westerley residents need a quart of milk or a quick bite to eat, most hop in their cars, SUVs and minivans, further crowding congested Route 7. That's because, for a half-mile between their homes and dozens of shopping and eating destinations, Route 7 has no sidewalk and no crosswalks. Their only options: run across six lanes of traffic or walk on a narrow dirt path worn into the grass that often becomes a muddy mess a couple of feet from vehicles zooming past. "You can't [walk] anyplace except in the community," said Bob Villegas, president of the Westerley Homeowners Association. "You'll see ladies with baby buggies on that dirt path. It's very dangerous." Traffic planners say Westerley residents aren't the only ones driving short distances -- and adding to the region's notorious traffic congestion -- because walking and riding bicycles are not safe options. An estimated half of the vehicles filling Metro parking lots belong to commuters who live within a short bus ride or walk of the stations. Parents driving their children to neighborhood schools add unnecessarily to morning traffic jams, particularly on side roads, often because their children would otherwise have to walk or ride their bicycles in the street. The Washington Post this week continues a series of articles on how traffic problems might be eased relatively simply and cheaply in an era when big and expensive solutions are less feasible. Reducing traffic by getting more people out of their cars is often as simple as building a sidewalk, painting a crosswalk, installing better streetlights or paving a bike path. All of them are relatively quick to do and cost little compared with widening roads, adding Metro lines or building more Metro parking garages. Making it easier for people to walk or ride bicycles might not make a huge dent in the traffic spurred by constant population and job growth. However, it could cut out some short vehicle trips, give people alternatives to stewing in backups and open up Metro parking spots. Most important, traffic planners say, making walking and bike riding easier would improve the region's air quality. Getting rid of unnecessary car trips would reduce vehicle emissions. Studies have shown that people will forgo driving if they find it easy and pleasant to walk, said Reid Ewing, a research professor in transportation and urban planning at the University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth. Better walking conditions also would make it safer for those who can't drive, such as children and older people. But Ewing said reducing the number of short vehicle trips isn't the only reason to make walking and biking safer and easier: "You do it for quality-of-life reasons, to make the population healthier, and you create more sense of community so people aren't just driving past each other in cars." More Cars, Fewer Walkers Despite the potential for cutting out some vehicle trips and improving air quality, people are walking less and less. Thirty years ago, more than 60 percent of U.S. schoolchildren walked or rode bikes to school. Today, that number has fallen to about 13 percent, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Walking has decreased for many reasons. Affluence has made two-car families the norm. In some of Washington's outer suburbs, household vehicles outnumber licensed drivers. That makes it more convenient to drive to the corner grocery store than walk. Many parents also say increased traffic and news accounts of child abductions have made them leery of letting their children walk or ride their bikes to school. Development patterns tailored to driving also have discouraged walking. Newer schools sit on large plots of land, removed from neighborhoods and often along busy roads. Today's subdivisions often are built far from shopping. Many neighborhoods built after World War II, when planners believed that the family car had replaced the need to walk, have no sidewalks. County officials often require a developer to install sidewalks, but the sidewalks end just beyond the developer's property line. On Sterling's Augusta Drive, leading into the five-year-old Westerley subdivision, the sidewalk runs along only one side. Residents on the other side must dash across four lanes of 35-mph traffic with no crosswalk in sight. Students trying to walk between the subdivision and Dominion High School a half-mile away have a sidewalk near the school, but it ends about halfway home, requiring them to trudge through the grass or cross the street to reach another sidewalk. John J. Clark, Loudoun's transportation director, said the county now requires sidewalks along any new major road. Adding a sidewalk later costs three to four times as much, he said. Counties such as Loudoun used to consider sidewalks unnecessary, he said. But as development has exploded along once-rural roads, he said, the county has begun to see the importance of supporting walking. "We're getting smarter," Clark said. "We really haven't been smart enough on issues like this. You need to build pedestrian facilities from Day One, when you build the road." Test in Takoma Park Older neighborhoods often fare no better. Laura Kriv, 39, said she drove her daughter, Nesha Ruther, to pre-kindergarten at Rolling Terrace Elementary School most days last year because no sidewalks connected their Takoma Park home with a paved path leading to the school. Walking in the street and weaving around parked cars with Nesha by the hand and her younger child in a stroller felt dangerous, Kriv said. But a few improvements over the summer made all the difference, Kriv said. After Rolling Terrace was chosen as a test case for the state to find ways to make walking to school safer, Montgomery County installed more sidewalks on neighborhood roads, improved road signs and added crosswalks near the school. The total cost: $218,600 -- about the price of two new stoplights. This fall, Kriv and her daughters traded in a five-minute drive for a 15-minute walk most mornings. "That walk to school is a really good time just to walk and talk without having an agenda," Kriv said. "I don't want to depend on my car for everything." Consultants who have analyzed the pedestrian improvements near Rolling Terrace said it's too early to measure how many car trips are being saved. Kriv said she notices more children walking to school this year, and more neighbors of all ages walking and riding their bikes. Monica Ettinger, another Rolling Terrace parent who helped lead the charge for more sidewalks and better crosswalks, said some parents also had to be persuaded to get out of their cars. "We tried to educate them on the idea that one less car at pickup can make a big difference," Ettinger said. "If four cars pull in and they don't move, we can be backed up by 15 to 20 cars onto three roads within minutes." Metro Lots Congested The reluctance of many Metro riders to walk or ride bicycles to nearby subway stations concerns traffic planners because those commuters are taking parking spots that could be used by people who live farther from the stations. Some Metro riders said they have little choice. Jeff Tignore lives a 10-minute walk from the Fort Totten Metro station. He took Metro to his old job downtown. But he drove rather than walked to the station because lumpy or missing sidewalks, along with poor lighting and the deserted feeling around the station, made it seem unsafe to walk, especially in the dark. Many of his neighbors still drive to the station, where the parking lot fills up by 8 a.m., he said. "Right now, we're not receiving the benefits or convenience of living that close to a Metro stop," said Tignore, an advisory neighborhood commissioner for the Fort Totten area in Northeast Washington. "I know a couple people who walk to the Metro, but most people I know drive to work or get driven to the Metro." Tignore, a lawyer, said he now drives to his job in Southwest Washington. He could take the Metro, he said, but it still seems easier to drive to work than to walk to the Fort Totten Station. Planners have known about the problem for years. A 1994 Metro study of license plates in subway station lots found that about half the vehicles came from homes within two or three miles of the station, many well within an easy walk or short bus ride. That particularly concerns officials keeping an eye on the region's air pollution. People who could walk or take a short bus ride to Metro stations take parking spaces from drivers living farther away. If those people forgo taking Metro because they can't park at a station, their vehicles create that much more air pollution on their longer commutes. Freeing Metro station parking spaces also would allow the subway system, now packed during rush hours, to operate more efficiently, said Richard Stevens, Metro's director of business planning and project development. If riders didn't feel the need to arrive so early to get a parking space, he said, they would have more flexibility to ride outside the rush period, when Metro trains have more room. Making it easier for Metro riders to walk to stations also would ease crowding in Metro's Kiss and Ride areas. About 10 years ago, fewer than 5 percent of riders at suburban stations got dropped off or picked up at a Kiss and Ride area, Stevens said. Now, it's 10 percent to 15 percent, probably because fewer people are able to get parking. Improving sidewalks and adding crosswalks near bus stops also could increase bus ridership by about 3 percent, or 5,000 bus trips per day, Stevens said. That, too, could help reduce traffic. "I think it's a matter of priorities and where people want to spend the money," Stevens said. "It makes good sense for people to be able to walk, not just to transit, but to many other types of activities. We just don't make that easy to do." TOMORROW: Paying to drive faster. ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "bike." To subscribe or unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
