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I don't blame you. I live in Pinecrest behind Duke Raleigh and wanted to walk to the gym (Planet Fitness on Six Forks) cause I thought it was goofy to drive my car to the gym just to get on a treadmill. I still think it's super goofy, but such an unpleasant walk almost makes it necessary. I'll continue to walk/run to the gym, but damn.
why not go over to Atlantic and come in from the opposite, but much lower traffic, side? We may not have sidewalks on Atlantic/Six Forks on both sides there
Of course they aren't. And they get what the pay for. So thats where the "fault" lies. Most people just don't care about walkability.
Eh I wouldn't say it's necessarily about paying taxes, just that people would prefer their transportation dollars go towards vehicular improvements vs sidewalks and other walkability improvements.
There's a lot of blame to go around too -a few I can think of
-not having sidewalks or adequate/safe crosswalks (if you're coming from north of Wegmens, there isn't a striped crosswalk across the 440 ramps in some cases)
-drivers who don't care about pedestrians or yield to them at crosswalks or right turn on red situations
-NCDOT doesn't allow trees within 5-10' from the road so most sidewalks are exposed making it an unpleasant walking experience in the summer (apparently saving trees from stray cars is more important than saving humans from stray cars)
-the big box store culture that we have in the US of having several huge locations that everyone has to drive to instead of neighborhood scaled stores that people can walk to for daily errands. Also segregating land uses - residential vs commercial makes relatively little that's walkable for people in residentially zoned areas.
-the parking requirements that lead to massive parking lots that you have to walk thru to get to your destination (as it wasn't bad enough walking in the sun on the uncovered sidewalk, you have to walk thru a massive asphalt parking lot to get to where you're going). Sometimes the parking requirements are way too much - sure there are some crazy times of the year but for 90% of the year, K-Mart or Costco doesn't need that size of a parking lot.
and on and on and on........but I'm off my soap box now.
Eh I wouldn't say it's necessarily about paying taxes, just that people would prefer their transportation dollars go towards vehicular improvements vs sidewalks and other walkability improvements.
There's a lot of blame to go around too -a few I can think of
-not having sidewalks or adequate/safe crosswalks (if you're coming from north of Wegmens, there isn't a striped crosswalk across the 440 ramps in some cases)
-drivers who don't care about pedestrians or yield to them at crosswalks or right turn on red situations
-NCDOT doesn't allow trees within 5-10' from the road so most sidewalks are exposed making it an unpleasant walking experience in the summer (apparently saving trees from stray cars is more important than saving humans from stray cars)
-the big box store culture that we have in the US of having several huge locations that everyone has to drive to instead of neighborhood scaled stores that people can walk to for daily errands. Also segregating land uses - residential vs commercial makes relatively little that's walkable for people in residentially zoned areas.
-the parking requirements that lead to massive parking lots that you have to walk thru to get to your destination (as it wasn't bad enough walking in the sun on the uncovered sidewalk, you have to walk thru a massive asphalt parking lot to get to where you're going). Sometimes the parking requirements are way too much - sure there are some crazy times of the year but for 90% of the year, K-Mart or Costco doesn't need that size of a parking lot.
and on and on and on........but I'm off my soap box now.
Yes, to clarify, most people want plenty of road capacity and are unwilling to pay beyond that for pedestrian access, i.e., they aren't willing to pay taxes for pedestrian access. And lots of people aren't even willing to pay what it takes for adequate road capacity.
why not go over to Atlantic and come in from the opposite, but much lower traffic, side? We may not have sidewalks on Atlantic/Six Forks on both sides there
I considered that, but it does add quite a bit of time/distance. Which might be okay eventually, but for now walking/running 1.8 miles to the gym and back with weightlifting in between is exhausting enough
Quote:
Originally Posted by pierretong1991
Eh I wouldn't say it's necessarily about paying taxes, just that people would prefer their transportation dollars go towards vehicular improvements vs sidewalks and other walkability improvements.
There's a lot of blame to go around too -a few I can think of
-not having sidewalks or adequate/safe crosswalks (if you're coming from north of Wegmens, there isn't a striped crosswalk across the 440 ramps in some cases)
-drivers who don't care about pedestrians or yield to them at crosswalks or right turn on red situations
-NCDOT doesn't allow trees within 5-10' from the road so most sidewalks are exposed making it an unpleasant walking experience in the summer (apparently saving trees from stray cars is more important than saving humans from stray cars)
-the big box store culture that we have in the US of having several huge locations that everyone has to drive to instead of neighborhood scaled stores that people can walk to for daily errands. Also segregating land uses - residential vs commercial makes relatively little that's walkable for people in residentially zoned areas.
-the parking requirements that lead to massive parking lots that you have to walk thru to get to your destination (as it wasn't bad enough walking in the sun on the uncovered sidewalk, you have to walk thru a massive asphalt parking lot to get to where you're going). Sometimes the parking requirements are way too much - sure there are some crazy times of the year but for 90% of the year, K-Mart or Costco doesn't need that size of a parking lot.
and on and on and on........but I'm off my soap box now.
All of this is spot on! I'm not sure how familiar you all are with Jeff Speck, but his "General Theory of Walkability" is also spot on...ie, in order to get people to want to walk around their city, the walk needs to satisfy 4 basic criteria. It needs to be safe, comfortable, interesting and useful. This walk from Pinecrest to Wegmans or Planet Fitness may satisfy the "useful" part, but certainly it isn't safe or comfortable. Slightly interesting maybe, but certainly could be more so. You're right Pierre, that there are no crosswalk marking when crossing the 440 on ramp, and that was a little nerveracking because if you are [driving] entering 440 West from SB Wake Forest Rd, it's not really a red light red light. It's a yield sign which people regularly speed through. And it's sort of around a corner. Also the parking lot thing...something that is very far from interesting is trekking across a massive open blacktop parking lot.
I personally would gladly sacrifice parking lots and more tax if it meant taking public transit and walkability seriously.
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