In today’s Rhino, I was surprised to see none other than John Hammer advocating sidewalks along the Lee Street corridor. I kept waiting to read the punchline, because I thought for sure he was being sarcastic:

One idea that seems like a real no-brainer and goes along with what the city is trying to do in other areas is to make the area between the Koury Convention Center and Shreraton Hotel and the Coliseum more pedestrian friendly. It makes sense for people to be encouraged to walk from the Sheraton and Koury Convention Center to the Coliseum, but right now that is a scary and unpleasant walk. If that were a pleasant walk, it would help the Coliseum with parking and with traffic control.”

That’s a pretty long walk that, by the way, crosses the top of the I-40 exit ramp. I just don’t see a lot of people taking that stroll.

Hey, the city can put sidewalks anywhere they want as far as I’m concerned. I actually think the new sidewalks along Friendly Avenue look great. But I still don’t buy the “build them and they will walk” philosophy. Exercise may be one thing, but as one who has used sidewalks to get from here to there for years, I’m amazed at how underutilized they are as a mode of transportation. No matter how badly government bureaucrats want people to walk to the store or to the movies or wherever, they’re always going to hop in the car. That’s reality, and running sidewalks along busy corridors isn’t going to change that.

In my neighborhood, the city just built sidewalks that continue down Wharton Street and around Cridland Ave. I was driving down Cridland today when I saw a guy, a girl and a dog come jogging down Wharton. They hopped right over the new sidewalk and just kept running down the side of the street. Go figure.