Milwaukee Ranks High in Walkable Cities (Oakland, Winter: real estate, houses, neighborhoods)

[quijote]

Of the 40 largest U.S. cities, Milwaukee comes in at #13. Here's the MSN article on this study:

America's most walkable big cities - Buy a House: MLS Listings & Home Buying Tips - MSN Real Estate

And here's the Walk Score website (Get Your Walk Score - A Walkability Score For Any Address), with the rankings:

Walkscore City Rankings

[Nuclear_Art]

It makes sense. I enjoyed walking to work downtown from Riverwest on nicer days. It took me about a half hour and I could mix up the route along several different streets. Now I live a little too far to do it. Wintertime OTOH is a little trickier to navigate with all the ice on the sidewalks. Too bad more people don't shovel...

[karfar]

I find that a little strange. Personally, except for maybe Brady St. & certain areas of downtown, everything else requires driving, stuff is too spread out. That's what is kind of annoying, I wish there were more little corner market stores to quick pick up stuff instead of having to drive to the grocery store everytime.

[quijote]

Originally Posted by karfar

I find that a little strange. Personally, except for maybe Brady St. & certain areas of downtown, everything else requires driving, stuff is too spread out. That's what is kind of annoying, I wish there were more little corner market stores to quick pick up stuff instead of having to drive to the grocery store everytime.

I don't find it so strange, considering how unwalkable most of the rest of the Top 40 cities are. On the webpage I linked, there's a list of neighborhoods in these cities that rank 90+ out of 100 in walkability. Basically the whole East Side, Downtown, Third Ward, and Marquette area rank above 90.

Of course, one person's walkability is another person's mobility nightmare. The Walk Score people consider "walkable" an area within a mile radius of a point of origin. But if you have several heavy bags of groceries, even two blocks is not all that walkable. I used to live in a walkable neighborhood halfway between Sendiks on Downer and the now-defunct Sentry on Oakland, but I still used a car for groceries. Those gallon containers of milk can get obnoxiously heavy real fast, especially in the winter.

Nevertheless, at least a walking lifestyle is possible in these neighborhoods. One has to adjust in order to make it happen, though.

[Milwaukee Ronnie]

Originally Posted by karfar

I find that a little strange. Personally, except for maybe Brady St. & certain areas of downtown, everything else requires driving, stuff is too spread out. That's what is kind of annoying, I wish there were more little corner market stores to quick pick up stuff instead of having to drive to the grocery store everytime.

I ride my bike for about 60% of my trips to work and around town. And it works great. You can get around Milwaukee without a car.

[Milwaukee Ronnie]

Having spent some time perusing the website and looking at the "walkability density" maps for the cities that I'm familiar with, I think this ranking is one of those rare ones that's actually right on the mark.

[DaBears]

when i worked in milwaukee, i walked quite a bit at lunchtime and loved it......(worked across the street from the library)

[43north87west]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee Ronnie

Having spent some time perusing the website and looking at the "walkability density" maps for the cities that I'm familiar with, I think this ranking is one of those rare ones that's actually right on the mark.

I think it is too. I compared my two residences, Wisconsin and AZ and they seem to be right on the money. On the East Side, I can walk almost anywhere.

[city414]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee Ronnie

I ride my bike for about 60% of my trips to work and around town. And it works great. You can get around Milwaukee without a car.

not by walking....!!!! try walking from downtown lakefront to west hampton. it depends when and where

[JS20000]

Originally Posted by karfar

I find that a little strange. Personally, except for maybe Brady St. & certain areas of downtown, everything else requires driving, stuff is too spread out. That's what is kind of annoying, I wish there were more little corner market stores to quick pick up stuff instead of having to drive to the grocery store everytime.

Spread out? Milwaukee is one of the most compact, dense cities I've lived in (I'm coming from the sun belt so that is probably not saying much). The houses are 3 inches apart here, which is very weird to me. Milwaukee is indeed one of the most walkable cities I've lived in by a long shot-try walking from one end of Houston to the other (if you can find a sidewalk or trail)! The dependency on the automobile is not near as much a concern here as it is in the southern half of the country.