Pedestrians Exist Even in Bad Weather

The other day I stepped out the front door of my building to check out the sidewalk, friends was going to come pick me up and I wanted to make sure I could walk to their vehicle. Our condo association pays a crew to come out and create a pathway.  At the moment I stepped out I saw a mom & child walking down the street, a reminder we do have pedestrians even in bad weather.

– Steve Patterson

Brentwood Finally Addressing Poor Pedestrian Connections

A friend sent me a link to this alert issued by the City of Brentwood on December 1, 2010:

Brentwood Pedestrian & Transit Improvement Project
The design phase of the Brentwood Pedestrian & Transit Improvement Project is now underway. The City was awarded $664,000 in federal transportation enhancement funding for the project through a competitive grant program administered by East West Gateway Council of Governments. The City of Brentwood selected two engineering firms, CDG Engineers and Crawford Bunte Brammeier, through a competitive bid process to design two miles of new sidewalks connecting the Brentwood MetroLink station to area shopping centers and employers. The new sidewalk starts in the Brentwood Pointe (Dierbergs) shopping center and will continue south along Hanley Industrial Court, providing safe pedestrian access to the south entrance of the Brentwood Promenade. It then connects with the existing sidewalk on Strassner Drive by Memorial Park. The design phase is scheduled for completion by the end of September, 2011. Construction will start in 2012.

I’m glad I saved a PDF of the alert on the 7th, by the 9th it was gone:

But onto the actual issue, connecting the Brentwood MetroLink station to adjacent retail.  I’ve experienced all the retail in this area as a motorist but on one day, 6/19/2008, I experienced it as a pedestrian. What a horrible experience it was too.  Did I get from the MetroLink platform to Trader Joe’s and back without getting struck & killed?  Obviously, but not getting hit by a car is not how you’d describe a good pedestrian environment.

The journey starts with the narrow & long path up to grade from the west MetroLink platform. At the top you see the grim reality of what the pedestrian will find at the top.

I got to to the Trader Joe’s in the next development but it was not an easy task. Below is an aerial showing the route (blue) from the MetroLink station on the right to Trader Joe’s

It was kind of a crazy route because I was trying to find a way other than just through a parking lot. You see on the day I made this trip I was still a few weeks away from driving again post-stroke.  Transit and my power chair was my only option to reach Trader Joe’s.

I felt unsafe going to/from a store that is very close to expensive transit infrastructure.  I talked to a couple of lawyers that take ADA cases.  They liked the case but they didn’t have $30,000 to bring a suit.  I feel Brentwood was primarily responsible since they acquired the land for the developments.  When built next to the rail line they knew future plans called for a station.  The fact it wasn’t built to handle pedestrians is shameful.

The fact another $664,000 tax dollars needs to be spent to improve the area is frustrating. Why wasn’t this built better to begin with? Someone at Brentwood was asleep!  And this project only gets you to the edge, “providing safe pedestrian access to the south entrance of the Brentwood Promenade.”

Once at the south entrance you still cannot safely visit each merchant. Look for lots of money to be spent in the coming decades retrofitting pedestrian access where it should have been in the first place.  I’m not saying this shouldn’t be done now, it just should have been better planned so the best pedestrian route wasn’t the back way through an industrial park.

– Steve Patterson

The Density Needed For Walkability Myth

Continuing the walkability theme from yesterday, I thought it would be interesting to explore the assertion that walkability requires density. So I decided to look at 1st tier suburb Kirkwood MO and 2nd tier suburb Ballwin MO to see if this is the case.   If you buy into the theory that walkability requires density then you probably think  Kirkwood is more walkable because it has greater density than Ballwin.

As you will see, walkability has less to do with density and everything to do with how the land is used, a reflection of the era in which they were created.

Kirkwood, MO:

• Established: 1853
• Total Area: 9.3 square miles
• Density in 2000: 2,961.3/sq mi
• Source: Wikipedia
• Walk Score: 88/100 – Very Walkable (101-115 W Adams Ave)

Ballwin, MO:

• Established: 1950 (incorporated)
• Total Area: 9 square miles
• Density in 2009: 3,494.6/sq mi
• Source: Wikipedia
• Walk Score: 62/100 – Somewhat Walkable (15025 Manchester Rd)

For the Walk Score of both suburbs I just put in the city name, it determined the address it must consider the center point.

So the older, less dense, suburb is more walkable than the newer, more dense, suburb.  How can this be?  Ballwin was planned at a time when people thought nothing of getting in the car for every trip.  The lady of the house had her own car now so she could drive the kids to school, do some shopping and get groceries on the way home. Kirkwood, on the other hand, was laid out long before the car.  Being near the train station was important for reaching St. Louis.

Residential lots in Kirkwood are about the same size as those in Ballwin, the big difference is the Kirkwood lots are narrow & deep whereas the Ballwin lots are wide & shallow.  Commercial districts are vastly different between the two.  Kirkwood has too much newer auto-dependent retail but it also has a nice 19th century downtown.

Fortunately, Ballwin is not a lost cause.  It, and many other 2nd tier suburbs of the same era can be retrofitted to be more walkable.    The existing residential neighborhoods of single-family detached homes can remain unchanged, except for the addition of sidewalks internally and leading out to the commercial areas. Manchester Rd in Ballwin running through Kirkwood and into the City of St. Louis is an ideal corridor to be retrofitted. New structures can be built to infill the massive parking lots.  I can picture enhanced bus service or even a streetcar line the entire distance.

– Steve Patterson

Much Of The Region Should Be Walkable, Not Just The City

Late last week I posted about the lack of walkability at a subdivision in the western suburb of Chesterfield, These McMansions Will Be Hard To Give Away A Decade From Now.  As I expected I got this viewpoint in the comments: “I get it – you love urban living, but not everyone else does.  One size does not fit all, and commuting is highly personal, and for an increasing number of people, no longer includes the CBD.”

For the last 3 years I’ve lived downtown, just west of the central business district. The prior 17 years I lived in the CWE, Old North & Dutchtown/Mt. Pleasant neighborhoods.  I commuted by car to jobs in Rock Hill,  North St. Louis and Kirkwood.

The St. Louis MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) is 16 counties — 8 in Missouri and 8 in Illinois.

So? Our region is quite large geographically.  In 2000 we had 2.8 million living in 8,846 square miles.  The City of St. Louis represents only 66.2 square miles of the total area – less than one percent.  Even looking at St. Louis County & City only, the city represents only 11% of the total area.

We can’t all live in the city so I expect much of the region to be walkable.  That is, a person living in a developed area should be able to walk to a store.  Their kids should be able to walk to school.  The fact is this is already a reality for many throughout our region.  The concept of walkability shouldn’t be limited to within the city limits.

Yes, most will drive to reach their places of employment.  But for those living in walkable areas like downtown St. Louis, New Town at St. Charles, Ferguson, etc.  the many non-work trips can be done on foot. Many of the people I know who live downtown don’t work downtown.  They live here, in part, because it provides a walkable lifestyle for everything other than getting to/from their jobs.

Back to that McMansion subdivision in Chesterfield, those residents must drive everywhere.  They have no choice. Every no-work trip will be an auto trip.

There is nearly 20 miles from the street I mentioned before reaching the western edge of the City of St. Louis.

I don’t have figures on how much of the 8,846 square mile region is urbanized (developed) vs rural.  Parts of the city are, unfortunately, auto-dependent.  Some of the region outside the city is at least somewhat walkable.  But how much of the total area isn’t auto-dependent? Maybe 1-2%? I’d like to see that be 10% or more.

But please, don’t assume that I’m speaking of the city vs the remainder of the region when I write about walkability.  Walking knows no political boundary.

– Steve Patterson

These McMansions Will Be Hard To Give Away A Decade From Now

About 8 years ago I had a client on a quiet & respectable street in the suburb of Chesterfield. What struck me at the time was the number of houses all with a single road to get out of the subdivision. One visit I stopped to reset my trip odometer just to see how long it was from the main road to their house, it was over a mile and a half!

I remembered this area as I read an article about a recent study:

People who live in walkable communities are more socially engaged and trusting than those who live in less walkable areas, says a new study from the University of New Hampshire.

The study buttresses other research that has linked a neighborhood’s walkability to its residents’ quality of life, notably improved physical and mental health.

The McMansion on the large lot & 3-car garage was once desirable by many, but those days are fading. This subdivision has sidewalks, but no direct connection to each front door!

Out of curiosity I decided to run the Walk Score for this street. No surprise it got a 2 out of 100 and the label “auto-dependant”

Half a century ago you couldn’t give away mansions in the city. They were big, drafty, and “functionally obsolete.” They lacked modern plumbing, wiring and air conditioning. A decade from now these McMansions will be obsolete. The cost to heat & cool these houses alone is enough to make them undesirable but it will be the lack of walkability that will do them in.

In contrast, my downtown address got a score of 95 – walker’s paradise. My first apartment in St. Louis (CWE) has a score of 91. My first apartment in Old North St. Louis has a “very walkable” 77. The two properties I owned in Dutchtown have a “somewhat walkable: score of 52. Must someone live in a downtown loft to have a high Walk Score? Hardly. My former office was in Kirkwood where the residential units where the former Target store was located get a 91 “walker’s paradise” score. Inner-ring suburbs often score high because they originate in days of streetcars. Ferguson MO gets an 80 and Maplewood 75, both “very walkable.” On the Illinois side of the region you have places like Belleville (80) and Edwardsville (86).

Here is how they define the levels.

As gas prices & public transit ridership go up homes in car-deopendent areas will have little appeal. Areas that are somewhat & very walkable will be retrofitted to become more walkable. I’ve set up a calendar reminder for December 23, 2020 to revisit this issue, and this street in Chesterfield.

– Steve Patterson