Groups teaming up to make Indy more walkable
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Several agencies and organizations are teaming up to build more sidewalks in Indianapolis and they want your help pin-pointing where they’re needed most.
Health by Design is spearheading what they call the city’s first pedestrian plan along with the City of Indianapolis and the Marion County Health Department.
Just last year, a survey done by WalkScore determined Indianapolis was the third worst city in America in terms of walkability. Heath by Design leaders say that’s because Indy began as a very compact city. The downtown area is quite walkable, but as more and more areas surrounding downtown were incorporated into the city, including more rural areas, that left many neighborhoods without sidewalks.
“We have people waiting for buses in along ditches in the side of the road and those types of places where people are walking already and need the infrastructure to be able to get to places,” Joan Cook, Special Project Manager for Health by Design, said.
And Cook says not having sidewalks is also showing up on the scale. Two out of three Indy adults are either overweight or obese.
“Looking at areas of the city where people have higher incidences of chronic disease and using that as one of the elements on where we should spend this limited investment and limited resources,” Cook said.
You can learn more about the pedestrian plan in the works and offer your opinions at several open houses this week.
At the first open house, citizens were asked to voice their opinions.
EAST SIDE:
- Wednesday, February 24
- 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
- Community Alliance of the Far East Side
- 8902 E. 38th Street
NORTH SIDE:
- Thursday, February 25
- 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
- American Diabetes Association
- 8604 Allisonville Road
SOUTH SIDE:
- Saturday, February 27
- 10 a.m. – Noon
- Chin Community Center
- 2524 E. Stop 11 Road
WEST SIDE:
- Saturday, February 27
- 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
- Eagle Library
- 3325 Lowry Road