Honors College
116 Why Walkability? Making US Infrastructure Friendlier
Nicole Merhi and Eric Robertson
Faculty Mentor: Eric Robertson (Honors College, University of Utah)
Infrastructure that heavily relies on the use of cars, wide roads, and highways plays an integral part in how cities and communities are built and operated in the United States. Even though every American uses this system, it provides a variety of issues, such as negative environmental, physical, and social impacts on society. Though this problem affects everyone, it makes it especially difficult for people who live in rural areas or people who do have limited to no access to transit, as well as other groups such as the elderly and disabled people. However, integrating walkability into cities could drastically improve this issue. Walkability is the idea that more people have on-foot access to necessary and desired services like grocery stores, clinics, bus and/or train stops, shops, or restaurants. Cities that are walkable and accessible to all are vital because they improve safety for both drivers and pedestrians, enhance the physical and mental well-being of people, and bring a sense of culture and community.
First, making cities walkable and accessible will provide pedestrians and drivers safety and security. A research paper completed by Tanishita, Masayoshi, Yuta Sekiguchi, and Daisuke Sunaga that studies road injuries reveals that “Approximately 1.3 million people suffer fatal injuries as a result of road traffic crashes every year, and approximately 20-50 million people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many incurring a disability as a result of their injury. Therefore, the severity of pedestrian accidents has been examined in several studies.”[1]. Another study relating to road infrastructure claims “Khan and Habib revealed many factors related to road infrastructure and traffic control, showing that accidents on arterial roads, sloping roads, curved roads, and roundabouts resulted in pedestrian injuries with high severity.” [2] This quote connects poorly built infrastructure to pedestrian safety. These types of roads are personal to my driving experience. I live in a rural area with lots of wildlife, as well as bikers and runners. I must be conscious to avoid them while also paying attention to the curvy and narrow roads I drive on. There are no sidewalks or bike paths, which are dangerous to pedestrians. This also makes it difficult for drivers to avoid them. Finally, within the novel Walkable City (Tenth Anniversary Edition): How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time, author Jeff Speck provides a variety of studies on this specific issue. A group of researchers named Wesley Marshall and Norman Garrick completed a definitive study at the University of Connecticut, who “looked at more than 130,000 crashes over nine years, and were able to divide the subjects into twelve “safer” cities and twelve “less” safe cities. All told, doubling of block size corresponded wi