There’s a buzz in Nashville, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Boston, D.C., Fargo, Dallas, Greenville, San Jose, Syracuse. And it’s getting loud and clear.
It goes something like this: “We want to be near everything: grocery stores, work, shops, restaurants. We don’t want to have to drive 30 minutes to get someplace.”
The noise is coming from people all ages, although the Millennials and Baby Boomers are loudest, and both the transit and real estate industries are listening.
So what’s happening? People are tired of being stuck in traffic, searching for parking, wasting precious time they could be using doing something — anything — besides sitting in a vehicle, waiting.
In response, builders are making sidewalks wider, providing a buffer zone between walkways and traffic, adding special bike parking, and even installing bike workshops to attract buyers willing to pay more for such amenities.
Pedestrian and bike infrastructure is prompting real-estate development. According to a September 26 WSJ article entitled “A Biker’s Paradise — For A Price,” newer buildings are installing front entrances directly off bike and pedestrian trails and away from vehicular roadways.
The buzz is about turning things around in such a way as to make walking and biking not just possible, put pleasureable and desirable.
-Allison White, Scout Cart
