12 December 2008

Photo: Broken Sidewalk

The folks at Broken Sidewalk have exposed an interesting design problem. Oblivious non-design. Sidewalks with pedestrians not in mind.

It’s not just the pole (although that’s a huge part of it), its the rest of the sidewalk, too. The 3-4 foot wide sidewalk most commonly built today is really only wide enough for walking single file. At most you could try walking with a friend, but it can be tough sometimes. Nevermind groups of pedestrians walking in opposite directions. (And forget the handicapped population.) This is one pedestrian lane. There’s a 4-6 lane vehicular road right next to it. How about a 4 lane sidewalk?

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Sidewalks are where city life happens. Louisville must pay more attention to its public infrastructure and not pull ridiculous stunts like the pole in the road.

The street we live on is over 100 years old and, in the last century of development, you can see all sorts of poor decisions made, favoring the automobile over pedestrian mobility. When I walk our dog around our neighborhood there are a number of poles to go around. To make things worse, because our street is narrow, people actually park their cars partway onto the sidewalk, effectively forcing pedestrians to walk in the street. So much for having sidewalks. (The Kentucky School for the Blind is nearby, too!)