Prevention Magazine recently ranked Pittsburgh the 10th best walking city in the country, in their annual survey. The reason cited for the ranking?
Bike Pittsburgh and Mayor Ravenstahl’s initiative to hire the Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, Stephen Patchan.
Aside from this being one of our focus campaigns for the past few years, this is great news for the large number of Pittsburgh’s walking commuters. According to the US Census, approximately 12% of Pittsburgh Residents walk to work, ranking us second in the nation after Boston. When you throw in another 18% of residents that use transit and, for the most part need to walk to transit stops, that’s a whole lot of walking going on. And although there’s still tons of work to be done, it’s reassuring to know that the City has dedicated to focusing on improving the “pedestrian experience,” and subsequently the health, of such a large portion of residents.
The formula is simple: Making something easier and more pleasant equals more people doing it. The results have proven noteworthy as a national magazine has taken notice.
The American Podiatric Medical Association and Sperling’s Best Places contributed to the survey.
Top 10:
- San Francisco
- Boston
- New York City
- Philadelphia
- Chicago
- Washington DC
- Seattle
- Honolulu
- Portland
- Pittsburgh
A Post-Gazette featured blog, City Walkabout, also reported about this.
And the Post-Gazette
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