THE LONG WALK - Dan Burden of Walkable Communities, Inc. leads a group of walkers through downtown East Tawas. Burden, who walks through many communities to assess the needs of pedestrians in the community, did similar walks in Oscoda and Tawas City last week. - Photo by Jason Ogden

Communities need to be more pedestrian friendly
by Jason Ogden

EAST TAWAS - Volunteers put their feet to the pavement early last week to participate in a walkability study for Oscoda and the Tawases.

The study, which was conducted by Dan Burden of Walkable Communities, Inc., a non-profit consulting firm from High Springs, Fla., was presented to a group at the East Tawas Community Center Tuesday, Sept. 16. A similar study was presented in Oscoda the previous day.
The program is a service through the Michigan Department of Transportation, he said, through a Cool Cities grant.

The volunteers, which were made up of leading members of the towns’ governments, walked a set course through the communities.

A total of 20 people walked through downtown East Tawas. In Tawas City, seven walked through the community, according to Councilwoman Sandra Brugger.

Some participants sat in wheelchairs in an effort to see possible obstacles for disabled individuals.

Burden has done similar assessments across the United States and Canada and made recommendations for each of the communities, based on his walks.

The goal, he says, is to get people to walk through their communities and utilize businesses.

“Make it people friendly,” he said. “We’re looking at needing less transportation.”

Burden said, with the invention of the automobile, the development of towns began to change 80 years ago. He said the designs catered to the parking of cars. This caused less people to walk to where they were going, he said.

He said the current shift in Michigan government is to boost the economy and one way to do it is getting people to slow down in business districts and stop and shop.

According to Burden, if there is an attractive place to walk, people are going to use it.

“Make it people friendly,” he said. “We’re looking at needing less transportation.”

Burden said, with the invention of the automobile, the development of towns began to change 80 years ago. He said the designs catered to the parking of cars. This caused less people to walk to where they were going, he said.

He said the current shift in Michigan government is to boost the economy and one way to do it is getting people to slow down in business districts and stop and shop.

According to Burden, if there is an attractive place to walk, people are going to use it.

There are other benefits to getting people to walk more through areas, he said, adding that humans are a social species and are more happy around other people in most circumstances.

Additionally, exercise and increased activity lowers obesity and suicide rates, he said.

Through Burden’s presentation, one major theme about the three communities was discussed: the shrinking of US-23 in town centers to two lanes of traffic.

This has already been done in Oscoda, he said, noting that, even at peak times, two lanes in small communities are enough to handle a large traffic flow.

He said the two lanes would slow the traffic flow and allow developers in some places to build closer to the road, with parking in the rear. He said this, as well as treatments to sidewalks, would get people to slow down and spend time in those areas.

Also, on-street parking will slow cars as drivers are usually more careful when they know pedestrians may be walking around.

“Don’t expect the buildings to come first,” he said. “You have to fix the street.”

He called the procedure a “road diet.”

He said Oscoda, which recently went from four lanes to three lanes in its downtown district, is a good example. Burden said the town was historically like it is now, with two lanes of traffic and on-street parking, which is a major factor in making a walkable community.

Using photos and digital representations during his presentation, he said roads should have a significantly smaller width, with islands in the medians to allow safe crossing for pedestrians.

He also noted that for tourism, which is a major source of income in Iosco County, many individuals want to go to a place where they can walk around in the community.

“They get rid of their car and they will not go back to it until their vacation is done,” he said.

He said a walkable area should have stores close to the road, roadways that are narrow and easy to cross and greenery and lighting fixtures which create a boundary from the sidewalk to the road.

Some of the projects going on in East Tawas and Tawas City fit the form which Burden discussed. In East Tawas, crosswalks have been shortened on Newman Street, via bump outs, though Burden said the bump outs could have even been put out further into the street.

He even said the controversial four-way stop at Newman and Westover streets is a good idea.

In Tawas City, the new construction of the Tawas City Hall on the corner of Mathews Street and US-23 fits the form Burden described. The parking for the building will be relegated to the back of the structure, with both a “pocket park” in front of the city hall building and a war memorial park hugging the roadway.

Brugger said, as Tawas City redevelops its downtown, she hopes future developers, such as Towne Square LLC, will include items such as trees and benches to enhance the walkability of the area.

She said that there are a lot of businesses on that end of the city which need to be cleaned up further.

“There is a lot Tawas City can do to make it more green and pleasing to the eye,” she said.

Also, Brugger said the city needs to capitalize more on developing along the Tawas River, which it is doing in part with a river walk system behind the city hall construction.

Helen Pasakarnis, East Tawas Tax Increment Finance Authority director, discussed the possibility of including a roundabout, or traffic circle, in the community.

The circles, which use no traffic lights, direct traffic by forcing vehicles into one-way circles.

Burden said, where the circles are used in different parts of the country, traffic crashes and pedestrian fatalities have been reduced.

Pasakarnis said one should be implemented at the intersection of US-23 and Newman Street.

She said the lecture has affected the city’s current project.

“We are building the curbs that have not been put in yet so they are more compliant with MDOT,” she said.

She said the walkability experience will help her with city planning in the future.

“I thought the audit was one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve ever gone through,” she said. “We saw the world through a different set of eyes.”

Overall, she said the city’s streetscape project is right on track with walkability.

“Our project has incorporated many of the principles, key issues that were detailed in the audit,” said Pasakarnis said. “We’re doing a lot of things right.”