People throughout the country are increasingly drawn to walkable communities and downtown areas. Cities and towns throughout North Carolina are striving to create and expand vibrant destination communities and districts. Many local governments see pedestrian-friendly planning as a desirable element of downtown and business district revitalization plans. Many local governments also view pedestrian and bicycle friendly planning as a tool for increasing pedestrian/bicyclist safety and limiting urban sprawl.

Cities and towns use a variety of different means to create new pedestrian-friendly communities and business districts and make existing communities and business districts more pedestrian-friendly. Many of these tools seem obvious. Greater sidewalk and walking trail access and wider, better maintained and well-lighted sidewalks are an important way of attracting citizens and visitors to the desired area. If pedestrians don’t feel safe walking to and within an area, they are unlikely to frequent it. Similarly, bicycle lanes and paths afford greater safety for cyclists, attracting more people to communities and business districts. There are other tools such as “Pedestrian-Oriented Zoning.” The idea is to zone for multi-use developments which attract citizens and visitors with restaurants, shops, green common spaces, residential spaces, visual and performing arts venues, etc.

As an injury and safety attorney, I am keenly interested in safety issues. I have represented hundreds of injured pedestrians and bicyclists. From this experience, I am only too aware of the serious and often devastating injuries suffered by pedestrians and bicyclists. As noted above, offering pedestrians and bicyclists safer ways of traveling to and within communities and business districts, is one effective tool for cities and towns to attract more people to those communities and business districts.

As our local city and town planners work to make communities and business districts more appealing, it is important that we, as citizens, let them know that safety should be a key element in their planning. It makes good economic sense, but most importantly pedestrian-friendly planning saves lives!

You can learn more about Pedestrian-Oriented Planning at the following websites:

A Goal to Strengthen Local Economies by Enhancing Places, WalkBikeNC, https://www.ncdot.gov/bikeped/walkbikenc/pictures/EconomicsTwoPager.pdf, see also, https://www.ncdot.gov/bikeped/walkbikenc/pillars-of-plan/economy/default.aspx, and https://www.ncdot.gov/bikeped/walkbikenc/default.aspx.

Pedestrian-Oriented Zoning in Action: A Community Snapshot-Greensboro, North Carolina, A Reimann & JF Chriqui, Illinois Prevention Research Center, 2019. https://go.uic.edu/zoning-for-walkability-profile-Greensboro. 

Lessons Learned in Implementation of Pedestrian-Oriented Zoning Provisions: A Research Brief, A Reimann & JF Chriqui, Illinois Prevention Research Center, 2019. https://go.uic.edu/zoning-for-walkability-brief.

America Walks, https://americawalks.org/. For safety issues, see the America Walks publication, Safety Benefits of Walking, https://americawalks.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/America-Walks-Safety-Fact-Sheet-latest-1-1.pdf.

BikeWalk NC, https://www.bikewalknc.org/.

Winston-Salem Cycling Advocacy Network, https://wscyclingadvocacynetwork.wordpress.com/

Bicycling in Greensboro, https://bikegso.org/.

Bicycle Laws in Winston-Salem: https://www.cityofws.org/818/Bike-Laws.

League of American Cyclists, 2021 Winston-Salem Report: https://bikeleague.org/sites/default/files/bfareportcards/BFC_Fall_2021_ReportCard_WinstonSalem_NC.pdf.

Winston-Salem Bicycle / Pedestrian / Active Mobility Advisory Committee, https://www.cityofws.org/2742/Bicycle-Pedestrian-Active-Mobility-Commi.