what does "walkability" mean to you? (in NOVA-DC region) (Arlington: living in, vs.)

[Lucky★]

IMO Reston is much more walkable than most parts of DC because there are fewer intersections. Also, the crowded sidewalks in DC tend to slow me down a lot. A crowd can make it easier to cross busy intersections (not including intersections in Reston where there is no left turn without a green arrow, in which case it is easy to cross with or without a crowd).

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Lucky★

IMO Reston is much more walkable than most parts of DC because there are fewer intersections. Also, the crowded sidewalks in DC tend to slow me down a lot. A crowd can make it easier to cross busy intersections (not including intersections in Reston where there is no left turn without a green arrow, in which case it is easy to cross with or without a crowd).

The only crowded sidewalks in DC are around the mall when it's loaded with tourists or maybe in Georgetown on a Friday or Saturday night. The rest of the city is nothing like New York.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by Lucky★

IMO Reston is much more walkable than most parts of DC because there are fewer intersections. Also, the crowded sidewalks in DC tend to slow me down a lot. A crowd can make it easier to cross busy intersections (not including intersections in Reston where there is no left turn without a green arrow, in which case it is easy to cross with or without a crowd).

Number of intersections is an interesting criteria. If you are walking a long way down one street, fewer intersections means fewer crossings, which, holding constant for the quality of the crossing, is faster and/or safer.

On the other hand if you are going somewhere not on the same street, a "finer" street grid, with more intersections as a result, can mean shorter routes and make walking more convenient (the superblock problem). Fairfax in its guidelines for the new Tysons is emphasizing smaller blocks IIUC. A potential compromise is a midblock pedestrian only (or bike/ped only) walkway.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

The only crowded sidewalks in DC are around the mall when it's loaded with tourists or maybe in Georgetown on a Friday or Saturday night. The rest of the city is nothing like New York.

Barracks Row the other day was crowded - some combination of the ball game, the cherry blossom festival, and the weather, I guess. DC is getting there.

[cdmurphy]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

Barracks Row the other day was crowded - some combination of the ball game, the cherry blossom festival, and the weather, I guess. DC is getting there.

Chinatown/Gallery Place has crazy crowded sidewalks too.

[Plokivos]

Walkability score:

1. is it well lit - yes or no
2. do the businesses open late - yes or no
3. can i walk in a loop, infinitely around the area - yes or no
4. a lot of businesses clustered in a block - yes or no
5. Is it crowded - yes or no
6. can i take my dog on a walk with me - yes or no
7. can kids walk around - yes or no
8. busy traffic - yes or no
9. good width on the sidewalk - yes or no
10. a lot of residential areas near by - yes or no

more yes is better than more no's. 2c

[michgc]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

Number of intersections is an interesting criteria. If you are walking a long way down one street, fewer intersections means fewer crossings, which, holding constant for the quality of the crossing, is faster and/or safer.

On the other hand if you are going somewhere not on the same street, a "finer" street grid, with more intersections as a result, can mean shorter routes and make walking more convenient (the superblock problem). Fairfax in its guidelines for the new Tysons is emphasizing smaller blocks IIUC. A potential compromise is a midblock pedestrian only (or bike/ped only) walkway.

That is a good point. I, for example, find Town of Vienna to be quite walkable. However, there is one stretch of 123 that is annoying to me for that very reason. There is no stoplight between Lawyers Road and Nutley Street, which is actually a pretty long stretch. I live between the two, and when I'm walking and want to go to Amphora for example, I either have to jaywalk or walk all the way to Nutley and back again or all the way to Lawyers and back again. I won't tell you which I do. I had always hoped they'd put some kind of flashing yellow with a crosswalk in there, but I'm sure before long a stoplight will be necessary anyway (hopefully, by the time I'm planning to move back!).

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by michgc

That is a good point. I, for example, find Town of Vienna to be quite walkable. However, there is one stretch of 123 that is annoying to me for that very reason. There is no stoplight between Lawyers Road and Nutley Street, which is actually a pretty long stretch. I live between the two, and when I'm walking and want to go to Amphora for example, I either have to jaywalk or walk all the way to Nutley and back again or all the way to Lawyers and back again. I won't tell you which I do. I had always hoped they'd put some kind of flashing yellow with a crosswalk in there, but I'm sure before long a stoplight will be necessary anyway (hopefully, by the time I'm planning to move back!).

I'm curious - do residents of Vienna (Viennese?) prefer to walk on Church street over walking on 123, holding constant for the distance to their destination?

[JD984]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

I'm curious - do residents of Vienna (Viennese?) prefer to walk on Church street over walking on 123, holding constant for the distance to their destination?

Of course: it's more pedestrian-friendly, but on the other hand the commercial stretch of Church Street is much shorter than Maple Avenue/Route 123. Route 123 isn't particularly pleasant to walk on, because the sidewalks are narrow, they are shared by pedestrians and bikers, and there are many cars pulling in and out of the parking lots. However, when people refer to the Town of Vienna as walkable or somewhat walkable, they also have other things in Vienna in mind that are not on either Church Street or Maple Avenue, such as the community center and some of the buildings on side streets like Park and Glyndon.

When I lived outside the Town of Vienna, I biked to specific locations there many times (the W&OD path is a great resource and cuts through the middle of town), but rarely walked around, for the sake of walking, as I'd done when I lived in various cities and an older town in NJ.

[michgc]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

I'm curious - do residents of Vienna (Viennese?) prefer to walk on Church street over walking on 123, holding constant for the distance to their destination?

I live(d) on the south side of town, so I generally didn't walk Church street unless I was headed there or we were walking around Church for the fun of it (Freeman house, red caboose, etc.). I generally walked "behind" Maple Avenue (123) to get to my destination on Maple. So I would walk Courthouse to Locust to Center to get to the library, for example. From the library, I'd use Maple to get to Whole Foods. Then to walk back, I'd use the W&OD trail toward the Community Center to Cherry to Elm to Courthouse.

I did a lot of walkilng around town, but I'd guess that only 10% of it was actually on Rt. 123. The places I generally walked to were: library, park, preschool, community center, Magruders, and Whole Foods. For all of them, I walked on residential streets around town.

The only times I consistently walked on 123 was if I were heading to the shopping center on the corner of Nutley and 123 (with SunTrust and Pie Gourmet), up to Madison High School to vote, or to Cox's farm. But those were not my usual destinations.