Sidewalks have been neglected. It’s time to change that.

Sidewalks are an ubiquitous feature of urban living. They’re the most basic form of infrastructure and encourage people to walk – the most fundamental form of human transportation there is. It’s hard to imagine any sort of community that doesn’t have sidewalks. When they’re done well, they blend perfectly into the fabric of the city. And when they aren’t done well, you notice.

According to the Victoria Transport Policy Institute (VTPI), major American cities such as Denver and Los Angeles report that up to 40% of the sidewalks within their city are inadequate or missing.¹ In the suburbs, it’s even worse. 

There are many reasons why being a pedestrian in America is dangerous, and the poor quality of a sidewalk network (or the lack thereof) is a major component of this. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) notes that in 2022, two thirds of all pedestrian deaths occurred where there was no sidewalk. Further, about 60% of these deaths occurred on arterials – those “high-capacity roads without controlled access but with more traffic flow and higher speeds than local roads,” as the GHSA defines them.²

Pedestrian deaths are only getting worse. The GHSA projected over 7,300 pedestrian deaths in 2023, a slight decrease from 2022 but more than a 14% increase from before the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2010 to 2022, pedestrian deaths have risen in both raw numbers and as a percentage of all traffic fatalities. In that 12 year span, pedestrian deaths have increased a staggering 77%.

Many American communities, especially within suburban or rural areas, simply lack sidewalks. When they are present, they’re barely serviceable, and they are often dangerous to use as they often lack features like separation found from the Greenscape/Furnishing Zone. Couple that with urban sprawl and car dependent infrastructure, and it’s understandable that “annual average daily walking trips fell by 36% nationwide” between 2019 and 2022, even despite the effects of the pandemic.

With the overbearing presence of car culture and the stranglehold the American auto industry has on life in this country, it’s no wonder why walking, and sidewalks by extension, are neglected. Simply put, American communities are not investing enough into sidewalk infrastructure. The average town in America only spends about $30-60 per capita annually on sidewalks – the VTPI estimates this needs to double or even triple in order to get our sidewalk networks up to par.

Sidewalks are vital but lacking

But who needs sidewalks? They’re expensive. Just drive your car instead! It’s faster, anyway. Everything is too far apart to walk.

This sentiment, common among many who are content with sitting in traffic and loathe the “costs” of constructing a walkable, connected community, only serves to keep us in this backwards state we’re in. 

The benefits of sidewalks alone are clear. A well-constructed network reduces traffic by getting more people walking, leads to better physical health, safer traffic, more economic activity, and higher property values, just to name a few.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recommends sidewalks be built on all arterial and collector roads, as well as most local roadways. Needless to say, countless roads in America lack this basic infrastructure that can not only save lives but completely transform and enrich the feel of a community.

Recommended guidelines for sidewalks

Current guidelines recommend a minimum width of five feet for sidewalks, meeting the Americans with Disabilities Act required four foot minimum. Five feet, however, is the absolute bare minimum. A successful, safe sidewalk will ideally be wider, with clear separation from traffic. This extra width can and should be used for a variety of additional features, including benches, lighting, tree cover, utilities, and more.

One of the most walkable cities in the country, Boston, designates four “zones” that make up a complete sidewalk. The Pedestrian Zone is marked as the area where pedestrians travel unobstructed and should be five feet wide minimum, or eight feet wide minimum in downtown areas. This is the core section of the sidewalk and what most people generally think of when they consider sidewalks.

Boston does not stop there. The Frontage Zone is the area located between buildings and the Pedestrian Zone, giving a preferred two foot buffer for business entrances, opening doors, and spaces for cafes and occasional benches. On the other side of the Pedestrian Zone is the Greenscape/Furnishing zone, where trees, lights, signage, meter, utilities, etc. are placed. 

The Greenscape/Furnishing zone not only “collects the objects that may obstruct pedestrian flow” but also “simultaneously provides a buffer for pedestrians from the adjacent roadway,” the city says.

Finally is the Curb Zone, which should be six inches wide. In Boston, rolled curbs are discouraged as they allow cars to park on the sidewalk, whereas a barrier curb does not.

The minimum required and recommended sidewalk widths vary throughout the city depending on the classified street type, ranging from Downtown Commercial to Neighborhood Residential, but all types are required to have a minimum width of seven feet. The recommended width for these streets ranges from 11 feet at the narrowest to more than 20 at their widest.

The benefits of sidewalks

Boston prioritizes sidewalk infrastructure as evident from their minimum and recommended widths exceeding national requirements. But what do these wider sidewalks do?

For starters, wider sidewalks “improve safety, calm traffic, and have the potential to revitalize the economy of the street,” according to Kayla Lowber from the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington. This works not only in denser cities where a higher percentage of people are already walking but in suburban areas too as it incentivizes more pedestrian travel.

These wider sidewalks allow for, and indeed encourage, social interaction, fostering a greater sense of community. It’s all too often you hop into the car, drive to the grocery store, park in the oversized parking lot, and exchange only a few short pleasantries with the cashier as you checkout. And in the age of smartphones and self-checkout, you might go your whole trip without saying a word.

Contrast this with a dense, urban core – even in a suburban town. Wider sidewalks are the gateway to this man-made haven of vibrancy and culture, connecting people with one another instead of isolating them. The infrastructure itself matters. Lowber remarks that street cafes (which can be afforded by the space wider sidewalks allow) can drastically change the feel of a street – by being dense and compact, they bring people together in a more intimate environment.

Would you really prefer to drive to the Chick-fil-A two towns over (likely alone, considering the fact that nearly 75% of trips to work in the US are done driving solo)? Or would you want to walk to a nearby street cafe, bolstering the local economy with your business and experiencing the unique sense of charm that comes with it?

When our cities and towns neglect our sidewalks, it sends a message to residents: don’t walk here. If you’re not driving a car, then you can’t get around. Tacking on a five-foot sidewalk next to a fifty-foot stroad is the city’s way of saying they care more about cars than the people themselves.

They don’t cost as much as you might think

Naturally, widening or simply building sidewalks in the first place takes manpower and money. The initial costs can be expensive, and ambitious projects like completing an entire town’s sidewalk network or expanding downtown walkability can cost millions of dollars. However, the cost is worth it, and not simply for the reasons already listed.

According to the VTPI, sidewalks average around $6-12 per square foot, but this cost can increase depending on design, width and additional features. This is also only for a basic sidewalk – curbs, frontage zones, benches, etc. are not included in this cost estimate, all of which are necessary for an ideal sidewalk. 

Some might understandably be skeptical of these costs, but in reality, they’re a drop in the bucket compared to other expenditures many communities are fine with making. VTPI reports that only 1% of the annual transportation infrastructure budget is spent on sidewalks or walking facilities; in comparison, a whopping 90% is dedicated to automobiles, made up in large part by parking and roads.

Furthermore, expenditure is simply not meeting demand. Despite only making up 1% of the annual infrastructure budget, 11% of all trips in the average American community are made by walking – this jumps to over 20% of potential trips if the infrastructure improves.

Even if, as VTPI recommends, per capita expenditure for sidewalks would increase to $150 per capita annually (from the current average of $30-60), this would still only end up being roughly equal to the average amount Americans spend on a single month of car insurance alone. Add on car payments, gas, maintenance for any broken parts, and the cost of funding sidewalks in your town pales in comparison to what is spent on automobiles. 

Sidewalks lead to increased value and development

Sidewalk improvements pay for themselves over time. According to AARP, a location’s Walk Score, naturally boosted by sidewalks, walkability, and connectivity, dramatically increases the profit and value of a home or business. Comparing a business with a Walk Score of 80 to that with one of 20, the former saw a 42% increase in net operating income as well as 54% higher retail value. CEOs for Cities found that just one point improvement in Walk Score can add up to $3,000 to a home’s value.

AARP also notes when two houses are for sale, if one has a five-foot minimum sidewalk and some trees on the street, it sells faster and for up to $34,000 more, even if all other factors are identical.

When funding is provided, progress is made. This is exemplified by the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, which granted about $25 million to four communities in the US between 2005 and 2013 to expand walking and biking infrastructure. The results, they found, were promising.

From 2007 to 2013, the study found there was about a 23% increase in walking trips as well as nearly 50% increase in bicycle trips. Over 85 million vehicle miles traveled were averted, more than 3.5 million gallons of gasoline were saved, pedestrian fatalities decreased by 20%, and bicycle fatalities decreased by nearly 30%.

Not every community can receive millions of dollars in federal funding just like that, but there are numerous ways to get the money required for these sorts of projects. Funding sources include coming from a city’s general fund, through sales tax, leveraging funding, utility fees, special assessments, and more, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

However the money is acquired, the cost is well worth it. Expanding on sidewalk infrastructure in America’s towns and cities leads to healthier and happier citizens. Walkability and connectivity not only increase property values but can help define a community’s identity, enriching the lives of all people who live and visit there. 

The costs are minimal, and the benefits are enormous. Proper sidewalks are a necessity for Americans from all walks of life, and it’s time that communities come together instead of driving ourselves farther apart. We deserve safe, accessible, and expansive sidewalks to connect our lives and revitalize our towns.