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Suburban
life
has
always
been
synonymous
with
long
hours
in
the
car--
going
to
work,
school,
the
grocery
store,
the
mall,
soccer
practice
and
friends
homes.
Some
people
even
drive
to
take
a
walk.
Thats
changing
now,
just
like
the
stereotype
of
suburbs
as
places
where
everyones
white,
married
with
children
and
plays
golf
at
the
country
club.
From
Bethesda,
Maryland
to
Edina,
Minnesota
to
Kirkland,
Washington,
citizens
are
reinventing
their
towns
to
better
accommodate
walkers.
Traffic
is
being
tamed
on
busy
streets.
New
sidewalks
and
trails
are
being
constructed.
Business
districts
are
coming
to
life
thanks
to
growing
foot
traffic.
Leading
the
charge
are
suburban
leaders
who
see
their
communities
continuing
prosperity
and
quality-of-life
dependent
on
creating
lively
walkable
places
that
attract
young
people,
families
and
businesses
wanting
to
locate
where
the
action
is.
Walking
is
gaining
popularity
across
the
US
for
both
transportation
and
recreation
because
it
improves
health,
fosters
community
and
saves
money.
The
best
place
to
experience
the
future
of
suburban
living
is
Arlington
County,
Virginia,
home
of
the
Pentagon
and
Arlington
National
Cemetery
right
across
the
Potomac
River
from
Washington,
DC.
Built
up
during
the
1950s,
40s
and
late
30s,
after
autos
already
dominated
American
life,
its
a
classic
suburb
full
of
freestanding
homes
with
driveways
and
green
lawns.
Nonetheless
its
been
named
one
of
the
14
best
Walk
Friendly
communities
in
America
by
the
Pedestrian
and
Bicycle
Information
Center
at
the
University
of
North
Carolina
and
one
of
the
25
Best
Cities
for
Walking
by
Prevention
magazine.
A
Day
in
the
Life
of
Americas
Most
Walkable
Suburb
In
Arlingtons
Courthouse/Clarendon
district,
even
on
an
unseasonably
frigid
Friday
evening,
youll
find
folks
walking
their
dogs,
pushing
baby
strollers,
toting
home
groceries
or
just
out
strolling.
One
young
man
clutches
a
bouquet
of
flowers
as
he
hurries
down
the
street.
Sidewalk
traffic
is
brisk
with
people
heading
from
office
buildings,
transit
stops,
parking
lots,
and
nearby
residences
to
health
clubs,
shops,
restaurants
and
movie
theaters.
PO Box 10581
Portland, OR 97296
503 757 8342
www.americawalks.org
The
next
morning
is
windy
with
snow
flurries,
but
the
wide
sidewalks
of
Arlingtons
Virginia
Square/Ballston
district
hums
with
people
running
errands
at
the
bank,
the
cleaners,
the
mall,
the
tailors,
the
print
shop,
the
pharmacy
and
the
phone
store
before
stopping
off
at
the
hair
salon,
Starbucks
or
sandwich
shop.
You
even
see
a
few
intrepid
folks
on
bike.
A
lot
of
shoppers
popped
over
from
nearby
apartment
buildings
and
townhomes
that
have
grown
up
recently
what
once
was
a
struggling
commercial
strip,
while
others
strolled
from
nearby
single
family
homes.
Walking
a
couple
of
blocks
in
any
direction
from
this
town
center,
youre
transported
from
the
bustling
urbane
milieu
of
TV
shows
like
How
I
Met
Your
Mother
to
the
leafy
bucolic
setting
of
The
Brady
Brunch.
Clarendon/Courthouse
and
Ballston/Virginia
Square
are
both
served
by
a
regional
train
system,
a
boost
for
walkable
communities
that
most
American
suburbs
wont
have
access
to
anytime
soon.
But
pedestrians
flourish
in
Arlington
neighborhoods
distant
from
train
lines
too.
The
Westover
neighborhood
sports
a
typically
Mid-Century
design
with
parking
lots
in
front
of
many
businesses
but
still
offers
friendly
streetlife.
A
trio
of
middle
schoolers
walk
home
from
the
grocery
with
lunch
fixings,
while
neighbors
stop
for
a
chat
on
their
way
to
the
hardware
store,
library,
pharmacy,
barbershop,
bus
stop,
the
Lost
Dog
Caf
or
the
Stray
Cat
caf.
Meanwhile
the
brand
new
Shirlington
community,
rising
out
of
the
ashes
of
a
failed
shopping
center,
feels
like
a
suburban
village.
A
Main
Street
built
in
what
was
a
parking
lot
invites
you
to
take
an
afternoon
stroll
browsing
a
wide
selection
of
shops,
ethnic
restaurants,
a
library,
a
theater
company
and
a
brewpub.
Around
the
corner
stand
a
full-
service
grocery
and
Bus
Boys
&
Poets,
a
popular
bookstore
and
caf
named
after
African-
American
writer
Langston
Hughes,
who
worked
as
a
bus
boy
in
Washington
during
the
1930s.
A
few
steps
away
are
movie
theaters,
service
businesses
like
hair
salons
and
yoga
studios,
office
buildings,
townhomes,
apartments,
a
bus
station
and
parking
garages.
These
neighborhoods
stretch
over
six
miles
in
the
heart
of
Arlington
(which
is
both
a
city
and
a
county
at
the
same
time),
but
you
can
reach
them
all
on
foot
via
pedestrian-friendly
city
streets
or
Arlingtons
50-mile
trail
network.
Arlingtons
Path
to
Transformation
Arlington
did
not
become
a
pedestrian
success
story
overnight.
The
sidewalks
are
lively
today
thanks
to
a
series
of
smart
decisions
carried
out
over
several
decades.
The
story
of
this
suburbs
rise
to
become
one
of
Americas
most
walk-friendly
communities
offers
lessons
for
towns
everywhere
wanting
to
thrive
in
the
years
to
come.
As
an
early
model
for
the
auto-oriented
development
that
popped
up
all
over
the
country
after
World
War
II,
Arlington
also
become
one
of
the
first
suburbs
to
experience
the
inevitable
side
effects
of
aging.
The
county
population
dropped
from
174,000
in
1970
to
152,500
in
1980
as
new
land
to
develop
became
scarce
and
kids
who
grew
up
there
moved
away.
In
the
1970s
this
was
a
declining
inner
ring
suburb,
notes
Chris
Zimmerman,
who
served
on
the
county
board
for
18
years.
I
moved
here
in
1979
because
of
the
cheap
rent.
Arlington
was
a
stopover
for
a
lot
of
people
until
they
could
afford
to
move
somewhere
else--
a
familiar
scene
today
in
thousands
of
suburban
communities.
I
walked
in
those
days
because
I
didnt
have
a
car,
but
I
saw
very
few
other
people
walking,
remembers
Zimmerman,
who
left
the
county
board
in
2013
to
become
Vice-
president
of
Economic
Development
for
Smart
Growth
America,
which
promotes
walking
as
part
of
its
mission
to
create
healthy,
economically
vital
communities.
The
first
step
in
Arlingtons
revival
was
improved
transit
service,
including
a
number
of
stops
on
the
Washington
Metro
subway
system.
That
reversed
the
countys
population
decline,
as
new
apartment
buildings
and
shopping
rose
around
the
stations.
Walking
picked
up
a
bit
in
the
immediate
vicinity
of
Metro
stops,
but
not
in
other
parts
of
town.
Thats
because
most
of
the
streets
were
still
designed
to
move
cars
as
quickly
as
possible
with
little
regard
for
the
impact
on
pedestrians
and
surrounding
neighborhoods.
When
I
took
office
in
1996,
traffic
was
the
biggest
issue
in
every
neighborhood.
People
were
worried
about
their
kids
walking
to
school,
Zimmerman
notes
The
county
board,
spurred
on
by
neighborhood
leaders,
adopted
an
urban
village
approach
to
planning,
which
Zimmerman
says,
really
resonated
with
people--
the
idea
of
comfort
and
community
while
still
being
cosmopolitan.
Being
both
suburban
and
urban
at
the
same
time.
One
strong
focus
of
this
plan
was
to
make
walking
more
safe
and
convenient.
Sidewalks
were
widened
while
the
pedestrian
crossing
distances
at
intersections
were
narrowed.
A
task
force
on
traffic
calming
was
launched
and
the
outdated
policy
of
charging
homeowners
for
the
cost
of
building
new
sidewalks--still
common
throughout
the
US--was
eliminated.
(Homeowners
are
not
expected
to
pay
for
the
street
in
front
of
their
house;
why
should
they
be
responsible
for
the
pedestrian
infrastructure?
Zimmerman
declares
in
a
case
study
about
Arlington
done
by
America
Walks.)
Ninety
percent
of
all
residential
streets
now
have
sidewalks
(up
from
73
percent
in
1997),
and
traffic
on
seven
of
the
countys
nine
busiest
roads
has
declined
between
5
and
23
percent
since
1996.
As
a
result,
walking
and
biking
now
account
for16.6
percent
of
all
trips
around
town.
When
I
moved
here
in
the
1990s,
I
would
walk
to
the
grocery
store
or
go
running,
and
if
you
ever
saw
anyone
else
you
always
said
hi
because
there
were
so
few
people
on
the
streets,
remembers
Lauren
Hassel,
Outreach
and
Promotions
Manager
for
WalkArlington.
Now
if
you
stopped
to
say
hi
to
everyone
you
met
on
the
sidewalk,
it
would
take
hours
to
get
where
youre
going.
The
countys
population
has
now
climbed
to
220,000,
and
its
attracting
many
young
professionals
and
families
who
could
afford
to
live
in
wealthier
suburbs
but
prefer
Arlingtons
walkability
and
sense
of
community.
It
is
also
growing
as
a
regional
job
center
with
more
than
215,000
people
working
in
the
county.
This
could
be
done
anywhere,
Zimmerman
counsels.
It
doesnt
depend
on
big-scale
transit,
it
depends
on
good
urban
design.
Walking
As
a
Way
of
Life
Peter
Owen,
a
lawyer
who
grew
up
in
nearby
McLean,
Virginia,
chose
to
live
in
Arlington
after
studying
at
University
of
Virginia,
William
&
Mary
and
Harvard
because
he
wanted
to
be
close
to
his
family
but
still
enjoy
opportunities
to
walk.
Still
old
habits
die
hard,
he
admits.
It
took
me
about
four
months
of
living
here
to
stop
driving
in
my
car
to
the
grocery
store,
even
though
I
lived
just
a
few
blocks
away.
The
shift
to
walking
has
even
improved
his
eating
habits.
I
buy
a
lot
less
frozen
food
because
its
easy
to
just
stop
at
the
store
on
my
walk
home
every
day
and
get
fresh
food.
Owen
still
owns
a
car,
but
says
it
stays
in
the
garage
most
of
the
time.
When
asked
why
walking
is
so
important
to
him,
Owen
has
plenty
to
say:
I
value
the
serendipitous
encounters
with
my
neighbors
and
the
sense
of
connection
to
this
place.
You
notice
lots
more
things,
like
kids
playing,
when
youre
living
at
five
miles
per
hour.
Arlington
is
becoming
a
place
where
people
matter
more
than
cars,
he
adds.
Its
not
just
possible
to
walk
here,
its
safe
and
comfortable
to
walk.
There
are
crosswalks
on
the
corners
and
shop
windows
to
look
at
as
you
pass
by--
its
more
fun
to
walk
with
those
kinds
of
things.
How
to
Make
Any
Town
Good
for
Walking
Arlingtons
emergence
as
Americas
most
walkable
suburb
grew
out
of
a
wide
range
of
community
improvements
promoted
by
residents,
like
Peter
Owen
who
served
on
the
Citizen
Transportation
Commission
for
six
years,
and
carried
out
by
elected
officials
and
county
staff.
Its
dramatically
different
walking
here
than
in
the
1990s,
says
Dennis
Leach,
Arlingtons
Director
of
Transportation,
who
lived
here
for
years
before
joining
the
county
staff.
You
see
all
these
people
in
places
that
used
to
be
nowhere.
It
shows
that
if
you
do
the
infrastructure
and
land
use
right,
you
can
provide
people
more
viable
transportation
options
and
good
places
to
walk,
which
has
benefits
for
social
equity,
health
and
a
sense
of
community.
Leach
calculates
that
350,000
pedestrian
and
bike
trips
are
made
by
residents,
workers
and
visitors
every
workday.
Key
actions
that
make
Arlingtons
streets
more
walkable
include:
Crosswalks,
which
are
clearly
defined
so
motorists
know
where
to
look
for
walkers;
Bulb
outs,
which
extend
the
sidewalk
a
few
feet
into
an
intersection
to
shorten
pedestrians
crossing
distance;
Median
islands,
which
offer
pedestrians
a
mid-point
refuge
while
crossing
wide,
busy
streets;
Landscaping
along
streets,
which
inspires
motorists
to
drive
slower;
Bike
lanes,
which
not
only
encourage
people
to
bike
instead
of
drive,
but
also
increase
the
distance
between
sidewalks
and
rushing
traffic;
Buffered
bike
lanes
&
cycle
tracks,
modern
bike
lanes
that
separate
sidewalks
even
further
from
traffic
by
adding
wide
swaths
of
paint
on
the
road
or
physical
barriers
from
moving
auto
traffic;
Wider
sidewalks,
which
make
people
feel
more
safe
and
comfortable
on
foot;
Narrower
streets,
which
slow
traffic
speeds
and
frees
up
more
space
for
pedestrians
and
bicyclists;
Traffic
calming,
a
whole
toolkit
of
additional
road
innovations,
ranging
from
roundabouts
to
speed
bumps,
that
remind
motorists
to
look
out
for
walkers
and
heed
the
speed
limit;
Pro-pedestrian
zoning,
which
enhances
the
walking
experience
by
requiring
first-
floor
retail
shops
or
windows
on
buildings
along
pedestrian
routes
and
by
allowing
sidewalk
cafes
but
making
sure
they
dont
crowd
out
people
on
foot;
Road
Diets,
a
new
step
for
Arlington,
in
which
moderately
traveled
four
lane
road
are
reduced
to
two
through-lanes
with
an
alternating
left-turn
lane
in
the
middle,
creating
space
for
bike
lanes
or
wider
sidewalks
Complete
Streets,
a
county
policy
that
all
modes
of
transportation
must
be
considered
in
street
reconstruction
projects;
Transportation
Demand
Management,
a
sophisticated
strategic
plan
that
looks
at
traffic
issues
involved
in
all
development
decisions,
and
offers
incentives
for
businesses
to
locate
in
walkable
places
served
by
transit.
three
on
the
same
list,
where
18
percent
walk
to
work,
is
also
a
suburb
of
sorts,
Berkeley,
California,
across
the
bay
from
San
Francisco.
But
Cambridge
and
Berkeley
arent
what
we
mean
when
we
say
suburbs.
These
towns
are
older
cities,
established
before
automobiles
took
over
American
streets,
and
although
both
have
made
sizable
pedestrian
improvements
in
recent
years,
they
benefit
from
a
head
start
in
walkability
compared
to
communities
built
after
World
War
II--the
places
we
generally
call
suburbs.
Walking
is
gaining
ground
in
many
of
these
newer
communities,
including
forward
looking
leaders
like
the
following
suburbs:
Edina,
Minnesota---In
1956
this
town
just
outside
Minneapolis
inaugurated
the
modern
suburban
era
by
opening
the
first
enclosed
shopping
mall
surrounded
by
vast
acres
of
parking,
a
defining
feature
of
late
20th
century
life.
Now
Edina
is
working
hard
to
evolve
into
a
21st
century
suburb,
where
theres
a
place
for
walking
and
biking
too.
Bike
lanes
are
sprouting
on
many
streets
and
some
four-lane
roads
have
been
downsized
to
three
lanes
(with
a
turning
lane
in
the
middle)
to
curtail
speeding
drivers
and
create
more
space
for
sidewalks--
known
as
a
road
diet.
Even
the
historic
shopping
mall
is
more
pedestrian
friendly,
thanks
to
a
$4
million
overhaul
of
nearby
streets.
The
city
government
is
responding
to
young
families
wishes
for
safer
streets
and
more
places
to
walk
and
bike.
Lakewood,
Colorado---This
Denver
suburb
traded
a
failed
shopping
mall
for
a
built-from-
scratch
downtown
offering
shops,
homes,
offices,
restaurants,
Whole
Foods,
Target,
movies,
a
town
common,
a
bowling
alley
and
an
Irish
pub,
all
within
close
and
pleasurable
walking
distance.
The
new
town
center,
called
BelMar,
is
not
on
a
train
line
but
shuttle
buses
run
to
the
closest
stop
on
Denvers
light
rail
network.
Bethesda,
Maryland---Real
estate
developer
and
business
professor
Christopher
Leinberger
calls
the
DC
region
the
most
walkable
metropolitan
area
in
the
US,
edging
out
New
York
City
on
the
strength
of
its
suburban
areas.
Indeed,
Silver
Spring,
White
Flint
and
Bethesda
(all
in
Maryland)
may
someday
challenge
Arlington
for
the
title
of
Americas
most
walkable
suburb.
Bethesda
Row,
a
newly
built
downtown
with
all
the
charm
and
usefulness
of
a
traditional
town
center,
is
a
great
example
of
a
walk-friendly
place.
Kirkland
&
University
Place,
Washington---Seattle
is
neck-and-neck
with
DC
for
pioneering
walkable
suburbs.
Dan
Burden,
one
of
Americas
leading
experts
on
pedestrian
friendly
communities
who
works
with
Blue
Zones,
lists
five
towns
in
the
region
that
are
taking
big
steps:
Kirkland,
Bellevue,
University
Place,
Redmond
and
Sammamish.
In
Kirkland,
Burden
lauds
four
of
Americas
best
road
diets,
significant
new
development
downtown,
an
urban
village
created
out
of
a
strip
mall
and
a
5.7
mile
long
multi-use
trail
with
excellent
street
crossings.
University Place, he states, has become one of the most
studied turnaround stories in North America, winning one award after another for its roads, parks
and other projects. In just 20 years, sidewalks have been built on virtually every block.
Numerous roads were put on diets to shrink their way to greater safety, affordability,
sustainability and high performance, and now University Place has a true town center underway,
attracting the nations most sought-after retailers such as Trader Joes and Whole Foods.
And its worth keeping an eye on Tigard, Oregon, a Portland suburb, whose city council passed
a resolution last November to make the community the most walkable city in the Pacific
Northwest where people of all age and abilities enjoy healthy and interconnected lives. That
means surpassing not only University Place and Kirkland but also Portland and Seattle, which is
ranked as Americas #1 walk friendly community by the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information
Center at the University of North Carolina.
Jay Walljasper writes, speaks and consults about how to create more healthy, happy, enjoyable
communities. He is the author of the Great Neighborhood Book. His website:
www.JayWalljasper.com