I have been walking to and from work since the time I have arrived here. I pretty much walk up to 5 miles a day. Walking everyday is not unsual for me. I did this in India too. I love walking, and the hard pedestrian conditions in my city were not enough to deter me from walking as much as I could.
What's new for me though is completing entire trips on foot. In New Delhi, I would walk to complete trips, taken mostly on public or private transit. (Of course, I also walked for recreation behind the closed doors of my neighbourhood, because I didn't get enough walking from work related travel). In Portland, I walk all the way to work, all the way to a restaurant/mall and all the way to the grocery store. Besides the fact that all these facilities are located within a reasonable walking distance, I can also do this because the infrastructure, society and environment here encourage me to walk longer distances.
Let's see what helps. Every road has a sidewalk at an extremely comfortable grade. This is in addition to a bike strip/lane. The region is designed into blocks (grid-pattern), so there are no dead-ends (something I come up with almost everyday walking in Delhi; for instance soemthing as simple as walking to the IIFT dhaba from my previous workplace requires you to take an extremely circuitous route). In fact, everyday I have over a dozen route options to walk to work. Depending on my mood, the traffic, the weather and the time of day, I can choose to take one street or the other. And at every interesection (which by the way allow safe crossing without the need for any subways or foot-overbridges and with the provision of pedestrian signals, signage and right-of-way for pedestrians) I have two options. City design and infrastructure that empowers the pedestrian to make transit choices rather than forcing them to take just one (the most difficult) route are key to ensuring this kind of walkability.
To top it all, every street I walk on is lined with huge trees. They not only provide shade and shelter from rain, they present a huge variety of flora that is incredibly educating and intellectually stimulating. The trees have huge trunks and branches that are the abode of a wide variety of fauna as well. Just with the line up of trees that I can walk along, my walk in the city is transformed every single day into a nature walk in the jungle. I see a different bird every day. And the rain does not lead to a stench, cause the blossoming flowers fill the air with a mild fragrance - all hundred per cent natural!
And finally, it doesn't hurt to feel respected. To see a driver stop for you, if necessary for over two minutes, till you're certain that you're safe and can in fact cross. They just won't move till you've crossed the entire street! And to smile to a stranger and receive one in return is not strange; in fact it is quite gratifying. I enjoy walking here. I don't have to run down the reserves of passion I have for walking inside of me to take each step. It is just natural to walk in Portland.
What's new for me though is completing entire trips on foot. In New Delhi, I would walk to complete trips, taken mostly on public or private transit. (Of course, I also walked for recreation behind the closed doors of my neighbourhood, because I didn't get enough walking from work related travel). In Portland, I walk all the way to work, all the way to a restaurant/mall and all the way to the grocery store. Besides the fact that all these facilities are located within a reasonable walking distance, I can also do this because the infrastructure, society and environment here encourage me to walk longer distances.
Let's see what helps. Every road has a sidewalk at an extremely comfortable grade. This is in addition to a bike strip/lane. The region is designed into blocks (grid-pattern), so there are no dead-ends (something I come up with almost everyday walking in Delhi; for instance soemthing as simple as walking to the IIFT dhaba from my previous workplace requires you to take an extremely circuitous route). In fact, everyday I have over a dozen route options to walk to work. Depending on my mood, the traffic, the weather and the time of day, I can choose to take one street or the other. And at every interesection (which by the way allow safe crossing without the need for any subways or foot-overbridges and with the provision of pedestrian signals, signage and right-of-way for pedestrians) I have two options. City design and infrastructure that empowers the pedestrian to make transit choices rather than forcing them to take just one (the most difficult) route are key to ensuring this kind of walkability.
To top it all, every street I walk on is lined with huge trees. They not only provide shade and shelter from rain, they present a huge variety of flora that is incredibly educating and intellectually stimulating. The trees have huge trunks and branches that are the abode of a wide variety of fauna as well. Just with the line up of trees that I can walk along, my walk in the city is transformed every single day into a nature walk in the jungle. I see a different bird every day. And the rain does not lead to a stench, cause the blossoming flowers fill the air with a mild fragrance - all hundred per cent natural!
And finally, it doesn't hurt to feel respected. To see a driver stop for you, if necessary for over two minutes, till you're certain that you're safe and can in fact cross. They just won't move till you've crossed the entire street! And to smile to a stranger and receive one in return is not strange; in fact it is quite gratifying. I enjoy walking here. I don't have to run down the reserves of passion I have for walking inside of me to take each step. It is just natural to walk in Portland.
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