For communities all over America, sidewalks present an increasingly contentious debate over issues of infrastructure spending, safety, and the rights of the individual. Those encounters give health care professionals an opportunity to promote physical activity and walking as one way to be active. The presence of sidewalks encourages people to get out of their cars, especially for their shorter trips (which are the majority of trips taken in this country), and walk. A well-constructed walkway for a typical 50-foot-wide residential property might cost a builder $2,000, but it can return 15 times that investment in resale value. Safer Streets Are Safer For Everyone. choosing to live in homes closer to parks and trails when possible. You can help make walking safer by teaching small groups to take simple “walkability” surveys. Whether for recreation, to improve our health, for exercise or to just meet neighbors, we have taken to the sidewalks, the gym, the track, greenway trails and sometimes to the street itself to get in our daily walk. Note: Javascript is disabled or is not supported by your browser. Although I understand the financial challenges of the project, I believe sidewalks provide numerous health, economic, and safety benefits for the community. Power walking is an exercise technique that emphasizes speed and arm motion as a means of increasing health benefits. People are also more likely to walk when they feel protected from traffic and safe from crime and hazards. For more information about this message, please visit this page: Transportation and Health Policy and Practice, Transportation and Health Impact Assessment, Section A: Stakeholders – Subject Matter Experts, HIA Background Information and HIA Indicators, Study Area Population Health Characteristics, Strategies: Reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), Strategies: Promote Active Transportation, Strategies: Incorporate Healthy Community Design Features, Strategies: Ensure Equitable Access to Transportation Networks, A Training Framework for Public Health and Planning Professionals, Healthy Community Design Checklist Toolkit, reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, improve your ability to do daily activities and prevent falls, if you’re an older adult. As an Iowa Walking College Fellow and a Safe Routes to School Advocate, I am pleased to see the City move forward with the Sidewalk Maintenance and Improvement Project. Preserving Property Value Aside from the safety, health, and financial risks associated with sunken concrete sidewalks and walkways, there are also cosmetic benefits to lifting and leveling those concrete slabs. I feel it is our duty to provide safe, easily accessible places for children in our community to bike and walk. Lack of sidewalks, construction of sidewalks too close to roads and lack of maintenance are all factors that discourage people from walking regularly. *For more information on the benefits of walking/walkable communities as well as inspiration to “Walk More, Connect More,” please visit walkneiowa.org. build parks and trails within walking distance of homes, and help make sure that the routes to these places are safe, build and maintain sidewalks, crosswalks, bike racks, and bike paths at and on routes between parks and trails, and areas where people live, and. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. This website is archived for historical purposes and is no longer being maintained or updated. Walkable communities can also offer many financial benefits, such as a reduction in healthcare costs. However, only a small number of people in the U.S. live within half a mile of a park. Roadways without sidewalks are more than twice as likely to have pedestrian-vehicle encounters than those with them. Developers who built sidewalks to comply with the city’s land-use code passed the cost on to homebuyers. The well-maintained sidewalks, accessibility, and inviting atmosphere of downtown helps Decorah to attract tourists. Applying these same characteristics to the rest of the City could help attract new residents as well. Like several areas in Decorah, I live in a neighborhood that is not fully connected by sidewalks. In addition, 10 ADA-accessible ramps were added to sidewalks in the downtown area. People who are physically active live longer and have a lower risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, and some cancers. In a well-designed community, homes, parks, stores, and schools are connected by safe walking and biking routes. ... To keep from falling, notice uneven sidewalks… Guest blogger, April Bril, 2017 Iowa Walking College Fellow. The standard manual on sidewalk construction is Sidewalks and Curbs, being Part C of Standard Specifications for Public Works Construction (published by the American Public Works Association, 1313 East 60th Street, Chicago 37; $1). Sidewalks are needed to get safely to the bus stops, grocery stores, health care appointments and to be connected with social and spiritual support. Sidewalks and walkways will begin to sink and shift over time as soil erosion and settlement occur. Among the benefits of sidewalks: People who live in neighborhoods with sidewalks are 47 percent more likely to be active at least 39 minutes a day. Homes with sidewalks tend to sell for more money and in less time than similar homes without sidewalks. The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Walking and Walkable Communities” was launched as a way to decrease the growing number of chronic diseases in the United States. Most were motivated by first-hand knowledge of the destruction caused by the virus. Recently, two quantitative tools have emerged for predicting the health impacts of projects that change population physical activity: the Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) and Dynamic Modeling for Health Impact Assessment (DYNAMO-HIA). To shade sidewalks and reap the full public health benefits of planting those trees, cities need to allocate at least a 10-foot parkway—the equivalent of a … Walking can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, while also … ... more than 100 miles of City streets that have sidewalks on at least one side of the rightof- -way. Settled concrete sidewalks and walkways can pose some serious risks that require attention. Public Health: Safe connections between streets, parking lots, buildings, and destinations encourage people to walk and bike instead of drive; an active lifestyle greatly improves physical and mental health. A groundbreaking online experiment wants to help scientists understand how best to bring the benefits of nature to those stuck indoors. Increased walking also comes with health benefits that other modes of transportation do not. As a parent, the greatest benefit sidewalks provide is safety for pedestrians, especially children. I look forward to the completion of the City Sidewalk Project so my family will be able to walk to local parks, downtown, and friends’ homes without having to walk on the street. In 2007, only about 35% of students in grades 9-12 met the recommended levels of physical activity, and in 2008 only 44% of adults met the recommended levels. Here are a few additional benefits of implementing sidewalks in your area: • Safety – Well-maintained and designed, sidewalks and walkways provide safe transport routes for both pedestrians and cyclists. Having a clean sidewalk has many benefits: it improves the look and value of your home, is inviting to guests or customers, and it can+ Read More Privacy Policy Having access to places for physical activity, such as parks and trails, encourages community residents to participate in physical activity and do so more often. The design and condition of sidewalks can positively or negatively influence the choices and behaviors of citizens. Width of Sidewalk. The closer you live to a park, the more likely you are to walk or bike to those places, and use the park for exercise. Posted by Megan Risley May 12, 2011 There is only (yes, only) one problem. Sidewalk Cleaning for Your Home Your sidewalk is quite possibly one of the first things your home or business presents to visitors, shaping a customer’s or friend’s perception of you. It decreases air pollution and car crashes which in turn can reduce chronic disease rates and traffic-related injuries. The Benefits of Entryway & Sidewalk Cleaning for Manhattan, NY Businesses Do you own a business or manage a property in Manhattan, NY? Our blog highlights Iowans who are making small shifts to improve their overall health and well-being. CDC recommends that children and adolescents do 60 minutes (1 hour) or more of physical activity each day and adults do 150 minutes (2 and a half hours) of aerobic activity every week. If so, it’s very important to coordinate with a team offering entryway and sidewalk cleaning for Manhattan, NY, scheduling regular service. Such routes allow all members of the community a chance to enjoy the outdoors and get physical and mental health benefits. Physical activity such as walking can help improve health even without weight loss. In addition to being a risk to our health, rodents and other pests can cause serious and often expensive structural damage. Parks and trails are an important part of a community. Regular walking may reduce the risk of diseases such as type … For this reason, some items on this page will be unavailable. Humans do emit greenhouse gases as we ambulate, but the environmental benefits of walking in contrast to driving are great. Subscribe to stay up to date! Furthermore, research has shown that walking 30 minutes a day can decrease your chances of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, depression, and certain cancers. The health benefits extend not only to the walker but to the planet, as well. Quality of Life: Well-designed streets and sidewalks make communities more inviting and aesthetically pleasing. Health care workers are lined up to receive their COVID-19 vaccine. Unless you’re allergic to the COVID-19 vaccines or their ingredients, you should take your first opportunity to get vaccinated. The physical activity you get from walking and biking to parks can have both environmental and personal health benefits. Businesses also benefit as residents are more likely to shop locally when there is increased connectivity between residential and business/commercial districts. 3. Improve Quality of Life. Sidewalks have the potential to significantly improve the quality of life within … How do I view different file formats (PDF, DOC, PPT, MPEG) on this site? Physical activity can also help: control your weight; reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease It decreases air pollution and car crashes which in turn can reduce chronic disease rates and traffic-related injuries. Sidewalks provide immensely valuable benefits to cities and to property owners, including crime prevention, health, increased property values and increased business.1 • Sidewalks provide opportunities for walking, and studies have shown that people with access to sidewalks are more likely to walk and meet the Surgeon General’s "What we're trying to do in this experiment is really explore all of the different ways that people can experience nature at home," says Alex Smalley from the University of Exeter, who is running the project. Taking a stroll also creates opportunities for … Health care professionals can help patients overcome barriers to physical activity and put them on the path to better health. www.iowahealthieststate.com/blog/communities/benefits-of-sidewalks- Site by Spinutech, Chat box: Ideas you shared during the 5-2-1-0 Summit, Top 10 ways to keep your kids active at home, Iowa Healthiest State Initiative Expands Double Up Food Bucks Program in Iowa, Steve Karlin: 'Don't be like me and wait so long' to seek treatment. Most of the existing sidewalks are in the urban core of our oldest city and town centers: Winston-Salem, Kernersville and Rural Hall. Lack of sidewaks is a public health … Physical activity helps control weight, but it has other benefits. The widely accepted minimum width is four feet in low-density neighborhoods. Copyright © 2021 Healthiest State Initiative. Most patients can walk, and walking can be easily modified to a person’s abilities. “The Safe Routes to … The broader issue — emphasized by health advocates on both sides of the state line — is that safe places to walk improve residents’ health and well-being. Walking has so many health benefits that in 2015 “Step It Up! There are many more health and economic benefits related to walkable communities. control the speed of traffic on roads where people walk by how the roads are designed, setting low speed limits and enforcing traffic laws. Top 3 Benefits of Lifting Settled Concrete Sidewalks and Walkways. It reduces the risk of chronic disease. Other benefits of walking barefoot include: better control of your foot position when it strikes the ground improvements in balance, proprioception, and … Even moderate levels of walking or cycling provide excellent health benefits. The Healthy Community Design Initiative, also known as the Built Environment and Health Initiative, is no longer a funded program and the information on this website is not being reviewed and updated on a regular basis. This installment discusses the overall lack of commitment to a continuous sidewalk network, and discusses the benefits of such a network, such as improved health and safety and economic benefits. Despite research showing the health benefits of physical activity, most U.S. adults and children are not active enough. “The benefits of our commitment to these projects are two-fold,” Mazzarella said. "One of the things we've found with bike infrastructure is that it … According to studies from AARP, people who live in neighborhoods with sidewalks are almost 50 percent more likely to be active for at least 30 minutes a day. 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