Web Site Calculates a Neighborhood’s Friendliness Toward Pedestrians

By Cat Sieh, The Bellingham Herald, Wash.

Aug. 7–The higher your score, the slimmer your waistline. That’s the idea behind www.walkscore.com, a new Web site that allows users to calculate how pedestrian- friendly their neighborhoods are.

The free Seattle-based site — inspired by a study linking sprawl to obesity — gives a 1 to 100 “walkability” score for any address in the United States by locating nearby amenities such as restaurants, schools, banks and parks.

Many Bellingham locations earn high rankings — apartments on the corner of West Holly and Bay streets get a perfect 100 — while less central locations, like the Silver Beach neighborhood, receive scores in the teens and lower.

The site was inspired by a 2006 Sightline Institute report that found the average resident of a walkable neighborhood weighs seven pounds less than those in sprawling neighborhoods.

The report also noted that residents of compact, mixeduse areas are less likely to suffer chronic diseases like diabetes, lung disease and hypertension.

Walk Score spokeswoman Jennifer Ritchie said the site can be a valuable tool for people who are looking to buy a home or move to a new area.

“If you’re considering a move you can get a sense of how walkable your neighborhood is,” she said. “People are also using the site to test their own neighborhood to see if it stands up to how walkable they think it is.”

Mike Brady, who lives in the Lettered Streets neighborhood, guessed his home’s score (the area ranks in the mid- to high 60s) nearly on the nose.

“This neighborhood isn’t very central to recreational activity,” he said, adding that nonfood shopping is also sparse. “You’re not going to walk from here to Marine Park.”

The site lists several disclaimers, noting that its scores don’t take into account street width or block length, crime, design or topography.

Because the site utilizes Google maps and business listings, distances are listed as the crow flies. The site notes “that means if you live across a lake from a destination, we’re assuming you’ll swim.”

Ritchie said site developers hope to evolve the site’s capabilities as time goes on.

Reach Cat Sieh at cat.sieh@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2236.

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