Friday, August 26, 2011

Making strides - yes or no?

Catching up to the Boston Globe article from Thursday. Turns out that a website has ranked Franklin amongst the least walkable communities in MA. One may quibble with the ranking or methodology, but when you think about it, the ranking I think is fair. There are more streets with no sidewalks than with, and those that have them are not all in good condition, never mind tip top condition. That's my 2 cents accumulated from spending quite a bit of time running the roads around town and some of them are far safer than others.

Meanwhile, Franklin - along with Milford and Northborough - will soon be getting some guidance and training from the nonprofit Walk Boston, through funding from the Metrowest Community Health Care Foundation. 
The project is just getting started, according to Wendy Landman, executive director of Walk Boston - which has worked with about 50 communities in various capacities, from creating walking maps to providing pedestrian safety education. 
The plan is to perform “walk audits’’ in each community. Those involve walking around and examining various factors, she explained, including sidewalk conditions, intersection placement and geometry, efficiency of pedestrian lights, presence of trees, and availability of shade.
Read the full article in the Boston Globe here


1 comment:

  1. Your choices: pay for busing or have your kids walk 2 miles to school on busy roads with no sidewalks. I am unsurprised by Franklin's ranking. Beautifying downtown (which I swear they have been doing for the last ten years)? How about making the safety of our children the most pressing concern?

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