America Walks Blog

Posted on October 13, 2020

We Can’t Walk If We Can’t Breathe: The Imperative for Racial Equity

This is a guest blog written by Lawrence T. Brown, the proud grandson and son of Mississippi Delta sharecroppers and preachers.  Lawrence is a visiting associate professor at the University of Wisconsin.  His research examines the impact of historical trauma on community health.  In June 2018, he was honored by OSI Baltimore…

Posted on October 2, 2020

How to Conduct a Walk Audit in Your Community – Quick Video Guide for Assessing Your Neighborhood Walkability

A walk audit is an assessment of the pedestrian safety, accessibility, and comfort of a particular area. In addition to documenting specific issues and engaging the community in advocating for improvements, walk audits can be most effective when public officials and community members of varying backgrounds, ages and abilities are…

Posted on September 11, 2020

The Federal Government Can Spur Dramatic Transformation for Pedestrian Safety (if it so chooses)

The following blog is a set of people-first policy recommendations that America Walks’ Executive Director Mike McGinn recently sent to the US Department of Transportation.  Dear USDOT, Thank you for requesting input on pedestrian safety. Pedestrian deaths reached a 30-year high in 2019. They have increased 60% in the last ten years. Traffic…

Posted on March 3, 2020

What does a walkable street look like?

You know those games you usually find on the back of a cereal box or in a kids’ magazine that present you with two seemingly identical pictures and ask you to spot the six things that are different in each? Well, here’s a much easier version of that: What differences…

Posted on August 20, 2019

How Can Walking Advocates and Leaders Address Transportation Equity for Latino Communities?

This month we were grateful to co-host the Twitter Chat, How to Address Transportation Equity for Latino Communities, hosted by Salud America as part of their regular #SaludTues Twitter Chats. Check out this recap of our points and some supportive links to relevant resources. 1. In what ways has an ethnocentric approach to urban and…

Posted on February 6, 2018

What does a walkable street look like?

This is a guest blog post by Rachel Quednau at Strong Towns. You know those games you usually find on the back of a cereal box or in a kids’ magazine that present you with two seemingly identical pictures and ask you to spot the six things that are different in each?…