Group to audit Maplewood to make it more walkable, livable

By
Doug Miner
-
10
56

The Walkable and Livable Cities Institute will be performing a walking tour/audit of Maplewood on Thursday, and is welcoming anyone in the community to join them.

From the WALC website: “The WALC Institute helps communities transform built environments to be more walkable, bikeable and livable. The Institute provides technical assistance to municipalities, state governments, national advocacy groups, non-profit organizations, neighborhood associations, resident advocates, consulting firms and developers to help retrofit existing streets or design new places to support active living and create a sense of community.”

Registration and coffee is at City Hall at 8:30 a.m. Robert Ping of the WALC Institute will introduce the WALC Institute and the process.

The walk/audit begins at 10:30 a.m. and will last about an hour. Transportation will be provided back to City Hall following the walk, with lunch provided by the AARP.

Anyone can join the group for just the introduction, the walk, or the whole day.

A discussion of findings from the audit and a ‘Visioning exercise’ will follow lunch.

The WALC Institute take the findings to begin the design process, culminating in a presentation of ideas the city could implement to make Maplewood more walkable and livable.

10 COMMENTS

  1. Agree with many of the commenters… west of Big Bend needs significant of attention. Walking to the Metro is hazardous, crossing Big Bend is super dangerous, and the infrastructure surrounding the ECC is crumbling. It’s difficult to walk with small children to the ECC (of all places!) because getting there is a pain, and then none of the sidewalks have curb cuts (i.e., for strollers). The neighborhood with the school for preschoolers and kindergarteners (and soon 1st and 2nd graders) is one of the least navigable.

  2. One dangerous intersection is at Manchester and Southwest. If you are going east on Manchester and turning right onto Southwest, it is only a slight turn, so cars hardly have to slow down when they have a green light. I have almost been run over several times while crossing at the crosswalk there, even with the pedestrian light.

  3. Walkabilty is much more than sidewalks and bike lanes. As much as those help, a good portion of the audit should be sitting in a room and reviewing building codes. Sidewalks only help when traffic is not continually cutting across them to park in front of the store. Maplewood already has a good template on walkable streets with half of Manchester. Replicating it from big bend to the metro should be the long term goal. Simply put, mixed use buildings (retail at street level and apartments above) with parking behind.

  4. You guys beat me to it. If it rains and you need to walk from the Maplewood metro-link towards Hanley road it is literally a dirt/mud path. I am sure that is not ADA compliant. It’s hard enough getting around. The answer here is….drum roll….add a sidewalk! Even if it is temporary (ie. Wood..anything). There is sidewalk on the other side, but then it stops at the bridge and one would have to cross the street again.

  5. The sidewalk situation on Manchester from the train station until Laclede Station Rd. (Aldi’s) is mighty mighty scary. It’s not exactly a pleasant/safe introduction to Maplewood for people arriving from the Metro. And yes, bike lanes would be great.

    • There’s no sidewalk at all from the station to Hanley on the north side. I suspect the landowners took it out for some
      misguided reason.

      • I’m pretty sure the next phase of the Manchester improvements will improve walkability from the Metrolink station to Laclede Station. Similar to what was done from Big Bend to Laclede Station.

  6. Well, as one who walks all over Maplewood frequently for working and shopping, I think it’ll be hard to improve. Well, maybe making Manchester into a pedestrian/bike trail would be neat.

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