Austin vs. Seattle: How do they compare?

October 17, 2012: published by Troy Heerwagen at 7:21 am - Closed

This article was written by Matt Schexnayder from SelfStorage.com.

Austin is known as the “live music capital of the world”, and for good reason. Home to the ACL music festival, SXSW, tons of music venues, and of course Austin City Limits, the longest-running music program in television history, Austin knows a thing or two about music. In addition to that, they having amazing food (especially BBQ), they are one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, and more recently they are becoming a hotbed of entrepreneurship.

Seattle, on the other hand, has just as much going for it. While some of us may just think of rain and coffee, residents know there is much more to Seattle than that. In addition to being the birthplace of Starbucks and Seattle’s Best Coffee, the city is also a thriving cultural center that boasts one of the most literate populations in the country. And thanks to the Space Needle, the city has one of the most recognizable skylines in the world.

These two cities have been compared to each other before, and in more ways than one. Besides the loveable population, distinct culture and the general desire for people to relocate there, they are also two of the most bike/pedestrian active cities in the nation. In this article, we will take a look at some of the ways they are similar, and what each city has done to improve its pedestrian safety.

Walking is the oldest and most affordable, efficient, and environmentally-friendly form of transportation known to man. Currently, both cities are seeking to improve pedestrian safety and encouraging more walking by creating an environment where pedestrians can walk safely and comfortably.

Unfortunately, so far this year there have been a higher number of pedestrian deaths in each city. Back in April, three pedestrians were hit and killed in a single weekend in Seattle; that is definitely a cause for concern. And in Austin, during the first 10 weeks of the year, there had already been three fatal pedestrian accidents and one serious injury. Add another week to that and there were four more!

This sort of thing cannot continue to happen. Thankfully, both cities police departments and city officials are doing everything they can to make sure this number doesn’t continue to climb year-over-year. Some of the measures being taken include increasing funding for pedestrian improvements, recommending new and revising old policies, and to some extreme going undercover as pedestrians and giving tickets to those that don’t yield.

With these steps in place, hopefully this will lead to less pedestrian related incidents and more safety and comfort for those walking around in these cities. Seattle once ranked in the top three safest cities for walkers. So with the right push, ideally we could see both Seattle and Austin in the number one and two spots in the country.

This article was written by Matt Schexnayder. Matt is on the SelfStorage.com marketing team and writes for the Storage Facilitator blog. Need to find self-storage in Seattle? Use SelfStorage.com to search thousands of facilities for free and reserve the best unit to fit your needs.

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Walking News Roundup – 10/14

October 14, 2012: published by Troy Heerwagen at 8:23 pm - Closed

A few local news items and links:

  • Town Hall Seattle is hosting a Walkable Cities event with planner, architectural designer, and author Jeff Speck to speak about creating walkable cities. “Speck, co-author of the landmark bestseller “Suburban Nation” and author of the new “Walkable City,” offers insight into what urban planners actually do and how cities can and do change, laying out a practical—and eminently achievable—vision of how to make our cities work.” The event is on November 19 at 7:30 pm
  • SDOT is accepting applications for mini grants to fund projects that educate students about pedestrian and bicycle safety and encourage walking and biking to school.
  • Feet First is accepting applications for the International Walk to School challenge.
  • The Thomas Street Overpass for pedestrians and bicycles is now open
  • Seattle Neighborhood Greenways have a calendar of local walking and biking events.
  • Walking in Seattle is on Twitter – follow us on Twitter
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A few local walking news links

September 30, 2012: published by Troy Heerwagen at 9:28 pm - Closed

A number of good quality links to share:

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Walking in Seattle slowdown

September 10, 2012: published by Troy Heerwagen at 9:53 pm - 1 Comment

We’ve had quite a slow period here recently at Walking in Seattle and I’m just writing to formalize that a little bit.

When I started the blog at the beginning of 2010, it filled a niche as a local source of information for pedestrians. We started by focusing on local walking routes, started linking to local pedestrian news, and then slowed down on that as we did more original reporting and editorializing.

360 posts later, I just have a lot less to say, and it seems that the voice of this blog is fairly well represented by other sources out there. Seattle Bike Blog, Seattle Transit Blog, Feet First’s blog, and SDOT Blog are my go-to places for information, opinions, events, and analysis.

We’ll see if I regain the passion I had for blogging, but for now I’ll say thanks to those who have read or commented, and enjoy the final days of summer walking in Seattle.

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Lessons from Europe: We’re doing it wrong

July 5, 2012: published by Troy Heerwagen at 12:35 pm - 1 Comment

In the last post, I shared some of the differences between the pedestrian experience in Seattle and the experience in the British Isles and Paris. While I do believe the urban experience in Europe is better overall than that in Seattle, I don’t think the reasons for that are sidewalks or mixed use or greenways or any of the common urban discussion topics in Seattle.

While Europe suffers as much, if not more than us, by having given up streets that were once used by everyone to be for cars only, the fact that Seattle’s roadways are at least twice as wide as the back streets of Paris already puts us at a huge disadvantage in terms of the pedestrian experience.

Compact street in Edinburgh

Compact, pedestrian oriented street in Edinburgh

European town centers were built well before cars existed and this pedestrian-centered mode of development puts destinations close to each other and makes walking the most convenient way to get around. Paris isn’t a great city for pedestrians just because it has sidewalks.

Many European cities also have extensive and well-used transit systems and they are also an essential part of the transportation network. But London didn’t become a great city by building a great underground network first. It became a great city that required a great transportation system.

A dedicated contingent of Seattlites fighting for bus service, sidewalks, and other urban amenities will never make Seattle a great city. To improve the transportation network here, Seattle could spend $4.5 billion to put sidewalks on every block. But providing amenities for walking doesn’t in itself create a great place to walk. We would be better served by investing in development to build shops in proximity to people and providing housing for people to support the shops.

Parisians on the Seine

Parisians on the Seine at sunset

The answer isn’t density, however – that’s too imprecise a word. Density can mean 40 story towers with 80 feet wide streets in between. Density is only successful when it supports compactness. Compactness can mean narrow streets and narrow sidewalks, an ideal of the urban landscape that may be hard for Seattle to implement today.

But until we begin to value the spaces that keep us farther from the places we want to go, walkers will continue to be delayed and deterred by places that provide no value to the pedestrian. We can look to root out obstacles to compactness and anything that deadens the streetscape and keeps people off the street. Space-eating parking lots, large towers with giant underground parking garages, and abandoned storefronts all undermine a pedestrian-friendly urban area and keep people from enjoying our public squares.

With funding for alternative modes of transportation being cut in the latest national transportation bill, supporters of walking, biking, and riding have suffered a defeat. But this is an opportunity to realize that to create a great pedestrian environment, the path of least resistance isn’t convincing people to think that they want it. The solution is creating a place where people demand it.

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Walking in Europe

July 2, 2012: published by Troy Heerwagen at 6:16 am - Closed

I recently spent three weeks in the British Isles and Paris with an eye on the pedestrian experience. Now back in Seattle, I’m here to share what we have to learn from Europe (and what they could learn from us).

While Seattle is thought of as a pedestrian-friendly city in America, the experience walking in Seattle is very different than walking in the walkable European cities of Dublin, London, and Paris.

Seattle pedestrians are known for our almost robotic patience in waiting for the walk signal. On my visit to Europe, it took a while to get used to the fact that nobody, other than tourists, waits for the signal.

Walking is often called a mode of active transportation but it definitely felt more active in Europe than in Seattle. Watching for traffic, sidestepping slow moving locals and lost tourists, and hopping between narrow sidewalks and narrow roadways meant walking in Europe took more effort. It feels pretty passive by comparison to ignore cars and thoughtlessly obey crosswalk signals while walking here in Seattle.

Abbey Road cover, photo taken in London

Crosswalks like this (and albums like this) are not the norm in London

While urbanists often consider America as having poor pedestrian infrastructure, the experience is different between the continents. Crosswalks as shown on the cover of Abbey Road are the exception in England. Crossing is often done at your own risk, as pedestrians aren’t given the right of way like they are here and road markings for pedestrians are fewer and less clearly marked.

Marked pedestrian crossings can be far apart, and crosswalk signals often have a long wait for a short time to cross. Jaywalking in the British Isles was made easier by helpful labels on the pavement telling you which way to look.

Helpful street markings for jaywalkers

Helpful street markings for jaywalkers

Some areas had few crossings of major streets, like parts of downtown Dublin, giving pedestrians limited options for walking. In contrast, Edinburgh had plenty of narrow pedestrian alleys, called closes. While walking down small dark alleys wouldn’t be a comfortable experience in most parts of America, feeling safe, was never an issue in the northwestern part of Europe. In the many pedestrian areas that I walked through, there were very few beggars, homeless, or mentally unstable individuals. Not being asked for money or otherwise interrupted by someone on the street seemed to make for a much more comfortable pedestrian experience. We don’t often consider homelessness in the context of the pedestrian streetscape, but there is a relationship there that is worth consideration.

Trafalgar Square in London

This is far from Westlake Park

As far as the built environment goes, there were some pedestrian only areas like Grafton Street in Dublin, the Shambles in York, and parts of the Latin Quarter in Paris that were highlights of their respective cities, but I felt the well-used public living rooms were an even better pedestrian amenity. From busy squares in York and the crowded but comfortable Trafalgar Square in London to the River Seine with hundreds of Parisians enjoying their wine and cheese at sunset, there are no public spaces in Seattle that compare, and certainly not our busiest public parks like Victor Steinbrueck Park and Westlake Park.

Those great public spaces and pedestrian streets make the biggest difference in making walking in Europe more pleasant than walking in Seattle, but their success isn’t due as much to the architects that designed them as it is where they’re located. In the next post, I’ll share some lessons I learned from the European transportation infrastructure and how our focus is wrong if we want a similar experience here.

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A walker wonders: What do I do about a dangerous sidewalk?

May 21, 2012: published by Troy Heerwagen at 12:11 pm - 1 Comment

A reader sends in a question about a dangerous sidwealk:

On Saturday night when walking to Husky Stadium I fell on a sidewalk that has buckled due to a tree between the sidewalk and Montlake and I have many questions?
#1 – How can I get someone to listen to me about getting this very dangerous patch of sidewalk fixed? I was not seriously injuried (that I know of) but it’s only a matter of time.
#2 – Is this a City of Seattle issue?
#3 – Does it do any good to fill out the form to request it gets fixed when there is so many that need help?
I have no intention of sueing them. I just want it fixed. It’s been getting worse over the years. Thank You for any help!!

According to the city, “Property owners are responsible for maintaining the sidewalks adjacent to their property. They must make sure snow and ice does not pose a hazard to pedestrians. They must also repair cracks and other damage.”

Even though it is the property-owner’s responsibility, you should still submit the city’s sidewalk repair form, as SDOT can mark the damaged area with paint to warn other pedestrians and issue a “Street Use Warning” to the property owner.

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Walking News Roundup – 5/4

May 4, 2012: published by Troy Heerwagen at 8:04 am - Closed

Here’s a roundup of news and links.

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Car vs. pedestrians infographic

April 25, 2012: published by Troy Heerwagen at 7:28 am - Closed

Here’s a very interesting infographic on pedestrian safety:


California Car Accident Lawyer

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Five Footpaths Blending Nature with City Living

April 18, 2012: published by Troy Heerwagen at 8:26 pm - Closed

A Visitor’s Impressions on Strolling Seattle’s Walking Trails

[Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Tim Eyre]

Walking may be a last-resort mode of transportation for many car and bicycle owners, but in my life (traveling around the country on a weekly basis for work) it’s how I stay fit and sane. Urban dwellers, pressed for time, often hop into their cars or rely on public transportation to get from point A to point B. Sometimes, it seems there aren’t enough hours in the day to venture outdoors on foot.

Seattle, already regarded as one of the most traversable cities in the U.S., is opening up troves of scenic foot paths, setting the stage for cities from coast to coast to design more walking-friendly layouts. It’s put the city at the top of my list on my regular work circuit, thanks to the chance to stroll right out of urban life and into nature.

Whether setting out with a destination in mind, or in the mood to meander along a scenic pathway, Seattle features a handful of noteworthy walking trails that beckon you to ditch your car or skip the next bus heading to town.

Over three weeks since my first work visit to Seattle last fall, I’ve made it a point to explore on foot. The area, I discovered quickly, features a nexus of scenic walking routes that lead to and from Downtown.

Burke-Gilman-Sammamish River Trail


(Photo by Joe Mabel)

A major corridor for urban dwellers, the bustling Burke-Gilman trail stretches roughly 27 miles one way, passing through a variety of neighborhoods and parks with multiple access points that connect schools and businesses throughout the area. A day after arriving in Seattle, I found myself on the trail, which follows the once heavily traveled railroad line of the Burlington Northern Railroad, running from Downtown to Bothell, then switching over to the Sammamish River Trail that runs to Redmond.

Speckled with farms, wineries and luxurious lakeshore homes — not to mention remarkable vistas of the Downtown skyline — I realized in no time why natives recommended I check out the trail, deemed by many as the most well-known trail among the area’s urban routes.

Chief Sealth Trail

Connecting Beacon Hill with Rainier Valley, the Chief Sealth Trail winds around more than three-and-a-half miles of hills undulating throughout the city’s Southeastern corner (http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/transportation/chiefsealthtrail.htm). The trail was built with recycled materials, including repurposed soil and concrete, cutting through a variety of affluent and middle-class neighborhoods.

Commuters heading to work come and go, as various access points connect walkers to the Sound Transit Link Light Rail stations. Plans are in the works to open up more access to Downtown, I hear. But for now, the brisk one-hour walk — stretching from the South Beacon Avenue-South Dawson Street intersection to the South 56th Avenue-South Gazelle Street intersection — serves as a window into Seattle’s suburban life.

Interurban Trail

About two miles into the 14-mile trail, I learned from a passerby that I was following a route traveled until 1939 by Seattle’s Interurban Trolley.

The trail, now frequently used by commuters traveling between South King County and Auburn, Kent, Tukwila, Renton and Downtown, sets out near Fort Dent Park, crossing over the Green River and dipping beneath Interstate 405.

Views of landscapes and historic industrial towns filled my peripheral before I crossed into the breathtaking Green River Valley, causing me to draw a deep breath and soak up the serene setting before taking the next step.

Weaving in and out of remote stretches and crowded junctures, the Interurban Trail epitomizes Seattle’s pursuit to fuse nature with city-living.

Alki Trail

alki beach
(Photo by Joe Mabel)

Accompanied by walkers, joggers and bicyclists on a fair-weathered spring afternoon, I set out from the northeastern shorelines of Alki Beach along this five-mile trail (http://www.rei.com/guidepost/detail/washington/hiking/alki-trail/3030). Flocks of geese glided periodically over Puget Sound, with the Olympic Mountains presiding in the distance.

Along the breezy walkway, running past Harbor Island to West Seattle over the swing bridge on Southwest Spokane Street, and eventually winding north on Southwest Harbor Avenue along the Elliot Bay shoreline, numerous sail and steamboats cruised the waters. I’d recommend this route highly to visitors and locals alike.

Ship Canal Trail

Rustic maritime industrial neighborhoods speckle this peaceful trail, which runs along a canal from the Fremont Bridge, passing alongside Seattle Pacific University and Lake Union. I encountered numerous dog walkers and joggers along the trail, though other stretches proved remote and less busy.

A three-quarter-mile extension of the water-lined trail, I learned, was completed in November, opening up access to Downtown. The trail also links the Burke-Gilman Trail with the Emerson Street bike path — one of many junctures threading together Seattle’s trail system.

Tim Eyre works in the self storage industry, regularly traveling to see locations that have
self storage units in Seattle. In locations near the Vancouver self storage facility, Tim helps folks in the Pacific Northwest store seasonal equipment when it’s not being used for outdoor activities.

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