Pedestrian infrastructure is an integral part of a town’s identity, as well as its safety. Young adults and middle-aged people prefer towns where they’re free to walk around.
These accidents are preventable with a proper provision of safe walkways. Many people don’t find the hassles of owning a car, plus, in some cities, the luxury of a parking space quite necessary. As a result, they’ll prefer to walk to their destinations or ride an electric scooter there, especially if it’s a short distance.
Did you know that around 4,500 people every year are killed after being hit by cars in the US?
Community sidewalks provide many tangible benefits to residents of the community. Let’s dive into how to maintain these walkways the right way and keep those benefits going.
1. Improve the Health of Residents
Chronic disease rates among Americans have unfortunately been on the rise. The hustle and bustle of making a living in today’s world can prove to be very stressful. Provide people with the opportunity to increase their distance walked every day as a smart, efficient and proven method of improving health and reducing stress.
A properly installed concrete walkway through towns and recreational parks allow people to become active. Exposure to the serenity of life and nature helps motivate active people to be more active than they used to be.
One of the advantages of walkways is reduced health care costs. This is as a result of increased physical activity on walkways outweigh the expenses of constructing sidewalks by a large margin. The benefits of physical activity are more evident in rural towns.
Urban environments, on the other hand, are less likely to have plentiful outdoor recreational activities. This goes to show how much they are important in providing people with free room to exercise. Lack of exercise may lead to heightened levels of obesity and depression, among many other unhealthy risks.
These urban cities will most likely have a lot of pedestrian traffic. Proper maintenance ensures there are no open manholes or potholes on sidewalks. This will prevent people from the risk of physical harm by falling.
By decongesting road traffic, well-maintained roads assist in reducing the levels of air pollution as well. This helps make the town or city both greener and safer for its residents.
2. Improve Pedestrian Safety
Trails and walkways should be well maintained as they provide a safe environment for everyone to experience the town. They provide safe transport routes for both pedestrians and cyclists. They also provide them with a good environment for both travel and exercise.
The best-designed sidewalks make sure that pedestrians are safe from traffic or any other dangers at all times of the day. A lot of road traffic and pedestrian accidents happen when people are crossing roads and streets.
It should have conspicuous bus stops to show where people can get on and off traffic. Pedestrian crossings should also be present to show where a person can get on the road to cross the street.
A well-lit sidewalk is a sign that pedestrian safety is a priority in its design and maintenance. The prevalence of limited vision during nighttime exposes pedestrians to a lot of potential dangers.
Proper maintenance should see to it that both sides of the walkway are well lit. This helps reduce the risk of crime and increase the visibility of pedestrians. Such strides will help ease whatever security fears that pedestrians may have.
Children are also important beneficiaries of sidewalks. By providing kids with secure walking routes, they are able to walk or cycle to school. This contributes a lot to their growing physical health.
3. Increase Property Value
Sidewalks play a big role in increasing property values. This is especially true when they give people access to the community while observing the privacy of their homes. Sidewalks are a public amenity like good schools and hospitals, that help residential homes command a high buying price.
People value them as recreational places for physical activity and improving community health. High property values will mean state governments receive more property tax in revenue. Some of the revenue collected should go toward the maintenance of city walkways. In a way, sidewalks and trails will pay for themselves.
Case studies across the United States show how important walkways as far as commercial interests are concerned. For example, houses along a popular walkway in Austin, Texas, had a price premium ranging between 5% and 20%. The price translated to about $60,000 annually in revenue which was about 5% of the total cost of trail construction and maintenance.
The property value is not the only thing property owners worry about. If they are well-marked and maintained, they serve as legal markings of residential property within a neighborhood.
This helps avoid trespassing issues with pedestrians and trail users.
4. Improve Quality of Life
Sidewalks have the potential to significantly improve the quality of life within a community. By providing safe environments for people to socialize, they give a community a customized identity.
It is difficult to measure how much the quality of life in a neighborhood has improved in a community by money. But it is possible to measure how much sidewalks are important in American neighborhoods in various other ways.
Walkways Are an Important Part of All Neighborhoods. Make Sure Yours is Safe.
Usable pedestrian infrastructure is a crucial element of any community that considers itself people friendly. Availability of sidewalks motivates pedestrian activity from people of all ages and abilities. It’s unfortunate that their potential benefits are often not appreciated as much as they should.
Community members gain a lot from sidewalks that are well maintained and pleasant to walk. The financial, social, and health benefits are incomparable to the simple cost of maintaining these sidewalks.
Feel free to call us today for more information on how you can construct and maintain your walkways.
