Gas Prices May Encourage More Walking

Posted on June 25, 2008 
Filed Under Community, Green, Just for Fun, Real Estate

If you’re moving into a new neighborhood the ability to walk to destinations might be a determining factor when deciding where to live. Especially when you take into consideration the cost just to drive to the grocery store and back. A new Web site promises to help you figure out how walkable your neighborhood really is by rating how far you have to go on foot to do your errands and have a good time.

The Web site, Walk Score, sizes up the stores, restaurants, schools, parks and other destinations within walking distance of a given property and uses that information to calculate a walkability score between zero and 100.

Walk Score looks at the distance to walkable locations near an address, calculates a score for each location, and combines all of the scores into a single measurement. Walkscore creator, Matt Lerner said research shows that the average person is willing to walk less than a quarter mile to destinations they visit frequently, such as a grocery store.


The left column shows the closest location in each category, but is expandable to show all locations within walking distance. You can compare Walk Scores between neighborhoods to help determine an optimal place to live for your exercise needs.

As you can see above, the 810 W Fourth St condos in downtown Winston-Salem have a Walk Score of 77. But what does that mean? The web site provides this guide to help you interpret the numbers:

90 – 100: Walkers’ Paradise. Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.
70 – 90: Very Walkable. It’s possible to get by without owning a car.
50 – 70: Some Walkable Locations. Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.
25 – 50: Not Walkable. Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.
0 – 25: Driving Only. Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!

Comments

4 Responses to “Gas Prices May Encourage More Walking”

  1. Gas Prices May Encourage More Walking · Real-Estate-Investing.ExplainedOnline.Net on June 25th, 2008 6:42 pm

    [...] Original post by [Technorati] Tag results for real estate [...]

  2. Steve Smith on July 2nd, 2008 5:22 pm

    That’s a cool tool. Thanks for pointing me to it. I’m going to see what it says about my neighborhood, though I know already it’s going to fall between Some Walkable Locations and Not Walkable. Sad.

  3. admin on July 3rd, 2008 10:00 am

    Thanks Steve. Report back to us. What did you learn about your neighborhood?
    BTW, I found your website useful, too.

  4. Steve Smith on July 4th, 2008 9:57 am

    I was right — my neighborhood came out as “Not Walkable.” And that was even with the application mistakenly placing a restaurant in my neighborhood that is actually several miles away! I live in Chatham County, in a part of the county that used to be rural but that is rapidly developing. So maybe before long we will move up the walkability scale. “Walkability” of course is a relative term. The grocery stores and couple of restaurants that are within a mile of us require crossing a major highway to reach, and there are no sidewalks in this area. So we may be less walkable than the application indicates. Still, it’s a fun tool–I’d include it in my suite of tools for checking out any neighborhood I might be considering in the future.

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