Meet Bob, he lives in a typical suburb and commutes to a typical office park.
Lately Bob's been feeling like he spends way too much time in his car and at his desk.
He'd like to drive less, walk more, get in better shape, and improve the environment.
Today he's decided to walk to lunch, grab a quick bite to eat, get a little fresh air and some exercise at the same time.
Because of zoning codes that separate different land uses, Bob's workplace was built in one place and restaurants and shops were built in another.
This separation makes his walk a little longer than he realized.
The spread out land uses are accessible mainly by car and complicated intersections make it difficult and dangerous to get across the road.
Nowadays, most development is designed for the automobile.
This means trouble for Bob because most shops aren't integrated with the surrounding neighborhood.
When Bob realizes he forgot to stop at the store on his way home, he tries once again to reduce his reliance on his car.
He finds that most of the streets in his subdivision don't go through, making it difficult to get anywhere.
And all these cul-de-sacs funnel traffic into a few large busy roads, making for an unpleasant ride.
But Bob proves to us all that if you have courage, strength, determination, and commitment, you really don't need a car to pick up a quart of milk.
Instead of increasing our freedom, auto-oriented planning has reduced our transportation options.
For most people, walking, bicycling, or taking the bus to carry out daily activities is simply too difficult and unpleasant.
Driving takes up more time, destinations are more spread out, roads are congested, and building only for cars leaves many people out of luck.
People with disabilities, people without cars, the very young, the very old.
Creating more transportation options doesn't mean going back to the past or giving up cars.
It means taking the needs of everyone, pedestrians, transit riders, bicyclists, as well as drivers into account when designing our communities.
It means mixing some land uses, like retail and housing, and creating more compact neighborhoods.
This program will look at examples of this kind of development and show how designs that meet the needs of pedestrians, bus riders, and bicyclists can create healthy and vibrant communities.
Main streets downtown, like those in Economowoc, and traditional neighborhood commercial centers like Monroe Street in Madison, Wisconsin, provide some of the best examples of pedestrian-friendly environments.
What is it about these places that make them so enjoyable and convenient for walking, bicycling, or taking the bus?
There are three key factors. They have a pedestrian-scale design, a concentration of services and destinations, and a mixture of different land uses.
The most important consideration in creating a pedestrian-friendly environment is the design of the street itself.
In traditional neighborhoods, streets are convenient for everyone to get around because they form an interconnected network.
Blocks are short. There are many direct routes. Traffic flows more efficiently, and drivers can bypass congestion.
And continuous side streets make excellent routes for bicyclists.
In contrast, suburban street layouts tend to have a curvilinear design.
The frequent dead ends, or cul-de-sacs, make it hard to walk to a bus stop, or even a neighbor's house.
All traffic funnels onto a few major roads, creating congestion at peak periods.
The big roads need big intersections, which are complicated and difficult to cross.
The wide residential streets convey a dangerous message to drivers. You can speed here.
In more traditional neighborhoods, the narrower tree-lined streets convey a different message.
Take it easy. This is an area where cars and people share the same space.
The message of the streets carries over to the housing in traditional neighborhoods.
Garages in the back and porches facing the street signal a friendliness and encourage the possibility of neighborly interaction.
Having more eyes on the street also enhances neighborhood safety.
In contrast, in many of today's newer residential areas, garages and driveways are the more prominent architectural features.
In suburban commercial areas, the wide arterial roads are hazardous to cross.
And the lack of sidewalks, fast traffic, and other barriers make these unsafe places for pedestrians, especially around schools.
In these low-density areas, bus stops are few and far between, and the weight becomes a test of endurance.
Arterial streets in traditional commercial neighborhoods have only one or two lanes.
There are lots of them, so they don't have to be too wide.
The smaller, more numerous streets can move cars more efficiently.
They're fronted by commercial buildings and can be used safely by everyone, bicyclists, pedestrians, drivers, and bus riders.
This feature, buildings placed up to the sidewalk with small parking lots located behind or to the side of a building,
is the most important design feature of a pedestrian-friendly commercial area.
This clinic in Shorewood, Wisconsin has two entrances, one for pedestrians and one for cars.
Placing buildings up to the sidewalk provides easy access, and a buffer of on-street parking creates a nicer space for walking.
In contrast, most of today's shopping centers are placed far back from the street, forcing pedestrians to walk unprotected through a large parking lot.
Downtowns and traditional neighborhood commercial centers provide a concentration of services and destinations
within walking distance of surrounding residential neighborhoods.
In this compact center of activity, bus stops can be conveniently located.
Transit comes more often, there are more riders, and it's more economical to build a pleasant place to wait or a shelter from the elements.
The typical suburban office park looks nice, but the sprawling design discourages walking by creating great distances for pedestrians to cross.
The distance between buildings also makes it difficult to locate convenient bus stops, and the isolation of the campus-like setting prevents running a lunch hour errand on foot.
In fact, most developments are now built with a strict separation of uses, houses in one place, stores in another, and workplaces in yet a third place,
which means that people in this neighborhood can't walk to a local shop or to work.
In traditional neighborhoods, the same elements—housing, stores, workplaces, and recreational areas—are arranged so that people can walk between them.
The mix of uses means you don't always need to drive to do simple things, like picking up a newspaper or a few grocery items.
This design also provides built-in opportunities for the social interactions that make a place a community.
Providing convenient facilities for transit and bicycling increases the attractiveness of these transportation alternatives.
The high visibility of special bus and bike lanes on University Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin signals the benefits of biking and transit.
Secure and protected bicycle parking and bicycle paths providing direct routes encourage people to consider biking to work or to nearby stores.
Let's take a tour of some of the other design features of pedestrian and transit-friendly neighborhoods.
In Middleton, Wisconsin, the downtown area was developed with walking in mind.
At intersections, the sidewalk extends out into the crosswalk, making a shorter and safer crossing for pedestrians.
Crosswalks are a different color than the road, alerting drivers that this is pedestrian space.
Pedestrian-scale buildings front the sidewalk, providing a main street feel.
The parking lots, located in the back, have sidewalks and landscaping and are small in size.
Landscaping and trellises add visual interest, and banners beckon people to wander, to relax, and to stroll.
In Wauwatosa, a revitalization of the town center features pedestrian-only walkways and pedestrian-scale street lamps.
Tables outside this bakery and coffee shop create a lively and pleasant place.
Providing basic amenities for pedestrians enhances the convenience and attractiveness of walking, bicycling, and transit.
On State Street and the Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin, you'll find many features that create an interesting and comfortable place to walk.
Tables and benches provide nice places to sit and watch people stroll by.
Street vendors, bicycle racks, newspaper racks, landscaping, and kiosks all enhance the pedestrian experience.
In downtown Milwaukee, the lunch crowd can easily get around on foot.
This sidewalk sign advertises daily specials.
A street vendor does a brisk business in the plaza outside this high-rise office building.
This pedestrian walkway provides a pleasant place to stroll for the people working in the nearby office building.
On Downer Street in Milwaukee, several design features create a pedestrian, bicycle, and transit-friendly neighborhood commercial area.
Street signs signal drivers that bicyclists and walkers share the road.
This mid-block crossing provides safe and easy access to shops on either side of the street.
This off-street parking lot can be smaller than usual, since some customers can conveniently walk, bike, or take the bus.
And there's a mix of land uses, like the apartments above this custard shop.
Evative designs can blend a variety of housing types and sizes into a compact neighborhood.
These single-family homes were built on smaller lots with access to a shared alley.
When properly planned and lighted, alleys enhance neighborhoods by eliminating the need for driveways
and creating a pleasant, unbroken space of yards and sidewalks in the front.
These apartments blend nicely with the adjacent single-family homes.
Alongside this home is an accessory apartment, or granny flat, where, for example, an elderly person could live independently but remain near family.
These attached single-family homes share a common entrance.
Other alternatives, like townhouses, condominiums, and apartments, fill the needs of the wide variety of household types and lifestyles today.
If properly designed, compact housing can fit nicely into residential areas and provide the same kinds of features,
like garage parking, security, and open space, that are usually found in designs for single-family homes.
In Elmhurst, Illinois, a commuter train station enlivens the downtown area, where hundreds of commuters pass through.
Across the street from the station, commuters can stop at shops meeting essential needs—a bakery, a dry cleaner, a deli.
Nearby, it's easy to run an errand with a high concentration of shops and services within easy walking distance.
Interesting features here are mid-block walkways for pedestrian shortcuts, a textured walking surface,
and a parking ramp that houses shops on the first level, creating a more interesting environment for walking.
Further up the train line, at Lake Forest, the transit station adds vitality to a thriving downtown business district.
With apartments above the shops, this is a lively place even on a weeknight.
Here, mixing uses—transportation, housing, and clean businesses—creates a center of activity, with each use enhancing the others.
There's a convenient concentration of services and destinations. Here you have transportation choices.
As you look around your community, is it starting to look like Bob's? Destinations spreading further apart?
Increasingly dominated by the automobile and strip development? Harder to get around without a car?
There are three basic strategies your community can use to create pedestrian-friendly and transit-compatible places.
Creating compact pedestrian-oriented new developments, improving the downtown and older neighborhoods, and modifying auto-oriented areas.
Middleton Hills is a compact traditional neighborhood development now under construction in Middleton, Wisconsin.
It will combine all of the features essential for promoting transportation alternatives.
Narrow streets forming an interconnected network.
A commercial center within a short walk of the housing, a central transit stop, and a wide variety of housing options.
Improvements to older neighborhoods and downtowns, like the conversion of this former gas station into a diner.
The addition of new housing and commercial space, or the development of the Riverwalk system in Milwaukee,
enhance the health and livability of these areas.
Steps can also be taken to modify auto-oriented areas.
Filling in open areas with housing or other land uses can make them more walkable and less auto-dependent.
Plans for the redevelopment of this aging shopping center in Milwaukee propose the construction of a parking structure,
freeing up parking lot space to develop street-front retail stores, a movie theater complex, housing, and a transit station.
Smaller steps in auto-oriented areas might include improving pedestrian, transit, and bicycle connections,
like the addition of this bike path under an expressway,
or this pedestrian walkway connecting a residential neighborhood to a nearby commercial area.
Communities that encourage pedestrian-friendly and transit-compatible designs gain several practical benefits.
More compact neighborhoods mean fewer miles of road to build and maintain.
Services like fire protection and school busing can be delivered more efficiently.
There's a more efficient use of investments in sewer and water facilities.
Well-planned and quality design neighborhoods increase property values.
Better transit and more walking means less traffic and a cleaner, more pleasant environment.
There's more land available for parks and less pressure to develop agricultural land.
A benefit like increased neighborhood vitality is less measurable,
but distinctive neighborhoods and public spaces dramatically improve a community's image and desirability.
Changing the way we build our communities won't be easy, but with the right combination of leadership,
citizen involvement, and common sense, we can design communities that provide alternatives to the automobile,
that reduce sprawl, that provide services more efficiently,
communities that are more accessible, safer, and friendlier for everyone.
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