The city of Dallas is made up of an overwhelming web of roads and highways, difficult to traverse without a car. As a result, public projects are underway to make the city more walkable. "We are changing the city and with the new features we have, people have more access to businesses close to the public complex," Department of Public Works interim senior program administrator Jose Lopez said. Photo courtesy of Lance Asper, Unsplash
By O.S. Keijsers-Koning
DFW is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the country, yet its walkability lags far behind.
New York and Chicago are Dallas’s neighbors in population, but are ranked more than twenty spots ahead of Dallas in terms of walkability. As opposed to developed public transportation, bike lanes and pedestrian paths, Dallas relies almost entirely on highways to travel around, with limited access to safe walkways.
"I usually either bike or drive because I don't know that highways are the safest to walk across or bike across, and I would love to avoid an accident," sophomore Grace Lopez said.
The Dallas area is made up of multiple neighborhoods, from downtown to the city suburbs. These isolated zones are only connected through busy roads, unsuitable for pedestrian or cyclist use. However, the City of Dallas is striving to create a more accessible infrastructure.
"We are changing the city and with the new features we have, people have more access to businesses close to the public complex," Department of Public Works interim senior program administrator Jose Lopez said. "This way we [can] help people avoid the highways and walk more."
The Department of Public Works aims to increase the city’s “walk score.” Every city has a walk score which is ranked from 1 to 100 based on available public transportation and bike paths, as well as how safe and accessible walking is.
University Park Public Works director Jodie Ledat has a similar goal for her neighborhood. The department’s current project is the reconstruction of the fountain at the center of Snider Plaza.
"One of the reasons my mom was really hesitant to buy me a bike at first is because we were really, really worried about road safety issues."
“We are going to remove and replace all the pavement [around the fountain] to make it a little bit more walkable and bring it to the standard of the [Americans with Disabilities Act],” Ledat said. “I think it’s also important from the city’s perspective to really encourage people to utilize their feet instead of their cars.”
Highland Park has a walk score of 32, meaning the neighborhood is heavily car dependent. In comparison, University Park has a walk score of 61, because of its safer sidewalks and convenient design. These neighborhoods are considered some of Dallas’s most walkable areas, yet they still pale next to cities like New York, which has a walk score of 88.
"One of the reasons my mom was really hesitant to buy me a bike at first is because we were really, really worried about road safety issues," freshman James Hu said.
Aside from pedestrian and cyclist paths, public transportation is also a struggle in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. DFW’s main, and only public transportation is the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, or DART, which operates buses, light rail, commuter rail and high-occupancy vehicle lanes.
"DART has different routes all along the city of Dallas, but DART is more like an Uber. Dallas only has this one system," Lopez said.
To increase walkability in the City of Dallas, new infrastructure projects have been introduced and completed. Such projects include the Barrier Free Ramp program (BFR) and Dallas Sidewalk Master Plan.
BFR aims to create barriers around unprotected street intersections, and ensure that there are ramps for those with disabilities. The Dallas Sidewalk Master Plan is another infrastructure project that works to improve all sidewalk accessibility and safety for everyone.
"I do think it is an aspiration to make a city more walkable, from a global warming perspective, from an air quality perspective and from a health perspective."
"[Our goals] are to keep improving all the sidewalks that we have, keep the ones ready for all the citizens, including a person with disabilities, and make pretty and nice sidewalks that people can enjoy," Lopez said.
Some areas in Dallas need more attention and resources in order to foster a more walkable environment. To ensure all areas are given equal opportunity, the City of Dallas marks struggling communities as the central focus.
"We try to impact areas where we have people with a low income and areas that may not have any improvement at all," Lopez said.
However, citizens will have to step up in order to make these programs function at their best capacity. They can either contribute financially or volunteer to facilitate infrastructure improvements, as they are not provided for by the state.
"Citizens are gonna be responsible for the sidewalks and they need to pay a fee for the repair or reconstruction if they want to do it through the city of Dallas, or if they want to do it by themselves,” Lopez said.
With the support of community members, the City of Dallas can continue to build stronger and more accessible infrastructure, and play a part in creating sustainable transportation systems.
"I do think it is an aspiration to make a city more walkable, from a global warming perspective, from an air quality perspective and from a health perspective," Ledat said.