Looking to Make Roads More Pedestrian-Friendly
By Erin Middlewood, The Columbian Staff Writer
Saturday, May 8, 2004
Cars nearly grazed Colete Anderson and Jennifer Campos as they stood at the corner of Highway 99 and 78th Street in Hazel Dell on a recent afternoon.
As pedestrians, they were right where they were supposed to be: at the button for the crosswalk signal. Nonetheless, it was an intimidating place for a person not encased in 2 tons of steel.
"Do you feel comfortable just standing and talking?" Anderson asked as cars whizzed by, barely an arm's length away.
Anderson and Campos, planners for Clark County and Vancouver, respectively, took a mile walk through Hazel Dell to prepare for a series of workshops in Hazel Dell, Ridgefield and Vancouver next week to audit neighborhood walkability and promote pedestrian- friendly roads. The Washington, D.C.-based National Center for Bicycling and Walking selected Clark County as one of 12 regions around the country for these workshops.
The group believes providing safe and pleasant places to walk not only helps curb traffic congestion, but also promotes a healthy activity to whittle away at the epidemic obesity in the United States.
"This is not to say we're anti-car," said Bob Chauncey, policy director for the center. "All we're saying is, let's be more sensible in the way we distribute our trips so we don't always depend on the car."
Federal statistics show that a quarter of all car trips are a mile or less, a distance easily walked. In Clark County, about 2 percent of workers walk to work, almost as many as the 3 percent who ride the bus, according to the 2000 Census.
The Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council, along with other jurisdictions in Clark County, applied to the National Center for Bicycling and Walking to be included in the group's second round of workshops in the country.
"We will see what we call 'ah-ha moments' when people realize the challenges that face pedestrians," said Lynda David, a planner for the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council. "Missing bits of sidewalk, utility poles or curb ramps that seemed insignificant become big issues when you're out there on foot or in a wheelchair."
Anderson took photos to highlight the kind of problems that participants in the workshops will find: cracked sidewalks, utility poles smack in the middle of walkways or a lack of sidewalks altogether.
Obstacles for pedestrians are not always as obvious as the ones found along Highway 99, where six pedestrians have been struck by cars and killed since 1999.
There, the sidewalk is right along a four-lane thoroughfare, and the only pedestrian access to most businesses is through driveways and parking lots.
In Fisher's Landing, some quiet neighborhood streets dead-end, providing no easy foot access to shops and restaurants on Southeast 164th Avenue.
Fisher's Landing, like Hazel Dell, has long blocks that keep pedestrians from taking the most direct route.
Campos said the average suburban block is 1,000 feet long, while city blocks tend to be about 200 feet long, providing an easier walk that avoids long detours.
The National Center for Bicycling and Walking advocates for bike lanes and sidewalks, as well as a grid system of narrower streets, which tends to slow car travel speeds.
Participants in next week's workshops will brainstorm ways to improve walkability.
For example, planting strips and bike lanes provide a buffer between cars and pedestrians. Extending curbs into so-called "bulbouts" at the corners of blocks make it easier for pedestrians to see oncoming traffic and vice versa.
Anderson and Campos said the county and cities will have a tough time implementing changes in an era of budget tightening, but having a list of ideas generated by residents will help win grants from the state and federal government.
"There are all sorts of things that you can do relatively cheaply in a way that increases the safety of pedestrians," Chauncey said.
"As you begin to build a network that encourages people to walk and bike, the more people will be out there, and the safer it will be."
Erin Middlewood covers transportation. Reach her at 360-759- 8031, or by e-mail at erin.middlewood@columbian.com.