Dallas Among Worst Places to Walk

As I walked back from Uptown along Bowen/Cedar Springs last night, I came to a section near Turtle Creek with no sidewalks on either side of the dark road. The sidewalks just end, forcing pedestrians into brush or onto the street. This seems like such an easy thing to remedy, yet my guess is its been that way for some time. A missing section of vehicular roadway would not be tolerated for a day.

Today a tweet came across my deck regarding preventable pedestrian deaths. Listed were then ten worst places in the U.S. to walk, and coming in at number ten on that list is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.

Here's a video I shot trying to walk from the TRE Medical/Market station to Katy Trail.

As the group Transportation for Americans points out, Beyond making new and refurbished roads safer for pedestrians, we need to create complete networks of sidewalks, bicycle paths and trails so that residents can travel safely throughout an area.

Another Downside to the One Story Town

One of the things I've noticed at my new place in Dallas is the pain in my leg muscles. I'm finding the difference between living in a one-story home in suburbia and a three level condo in the city is this unwitting exercise.

One-floor living has its appeal, and certainly such real estate is also available in the city, primarily in high-rise buildings. With one floor, everything is pretty accessible. Leave your keys or wallet on the third floor and you'll discover how convenient one-floor living was.

But there's also this notion of exercise. We hear a lot about how living in a dense urban environment with amenities accessible by walking is good for the waist line and for health, but what about living where you're forced to go up and down stairs on a regular basis? I do remember reading somewhere that every flight of stairs climbed adds the time it takes to climb them to your life span.

Okay, so what if you are spending the extra time climbing stairs?

The notion of aging in place has also entered my stream of thought on this. Working in real estate, I've gone into many homes where you can see through the furnishings and objects how the physical range has gotten smaller and smaller as time went on. On one hand, choosing to live on a single level can insure the ability to stay in a home longer as we age, but what if those stairs keep us healthy longer?

Which is better, staying somewhere longer or staying healthy longer?

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