Neighborhood Walkability

How walkable is your neighborhood?With the desire to stay healthy and fit, I have always walked a lot. On average, I walk somewhere between thirty and fifty miles each and every week.

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Add to that the rising fuel costs lately and I find myself walking even more. I now think twice before driving my old Volvo. I participate more and more in car pools with friends heading to the same destination. If I need just a few grocery items, I walk to my neighborhood grocery store now rather than drive. When I find that I must drive, I consolidate more errands into one trip. I am becoming more efficient!

As fuel prices continue upward, the real estate market is expected to pay more attention to the walkability of a neighborhood - a higher walkability score, the more desireable a property. The walkability of a neighborhood is becoming more important to our society.

According to the Walk Score website, walkable neighborhoods offer other surprising benefits to our health, the environment and our communities. They mention benefits like better health, reduction in greenhouse gases, gaining more transportation options, increased social capital and stronger local businesses.

Want to know the Walk Score for your neighborhood? Follow this link - http://www.walkscore.com/ - and type in your address.

My neighborhood scored 74 out of 100 points. What does my score mean? According to the Walk Score rating system, it means that my neighborhood is very walkable and it is possible to get by without a car.I have a dog walking gig in a different neighborhood in town. Beginning each walk a little over a mile from the trailhead, the dogs and I walk through a residential neighborhood and then explore a dense forest reserve on a trail system through an old railway easement. Services in that neighborhood appear to me to be far and few between, or even nonexistent.Curious about the walkability score for that neighborhood, I entered the address in the Walk Score website. Not surprised, my dog walking gig neighborhood scored only 8 points out of 100.While I am glad that the neighborhood in which I live received a fairly high walkability score, I shall continue enjoying the benefits of nature out on the trail system in my dog walking neighborhood too, consolidating errands as much as possible while driving too and from.I enjoy the scenery there - it is somehow therapeutic. The growing family of ducks always entertain us when we pass by their pond.

Those dogs and I also benefit from all the exercise we get while walking up and down the many hills on those trails too!