Richardson's Walkability

Patrick Kennedy, on his blog WalkableDFW, has championed walkability as a necessary component of a city's livability. In a recent blog entry, he reports on an academic finding that intersection density is the number one predictor of walkability. He says:

"Intuitively this makes sense in that the smaller the blocks, the greater number of intersections, the more storefronts, the more choice of route, etc. We have also known that intersection density is an indicator of traffic safety."

Kennedy goes on to present a detailed analysis of the intersection density of downtown Dallas compared with Portland, Oregon. Read his blog to learn which city comes out ahead.

After the jump, what another walkability measure says about Richardson.

Bush Turnpike TOD

My first impressions of the developers' vision for the transit-oriented development around the Bush Turnpike DART station in Richardson:

• It looks promising. Preserves creeks. Connects to trails and DART rail. Strives for mixed-use walkability.
• I like how it uses Spring Creek trail to punch a hole in Central Expwy to tie east/west together.
• It gets Cottonwood rail line across Central Expwy without blocking traffic at Plano Pkwy. Advantage Richardson over Plano.

OTBR: A Rapeseed Field In Germany

Latitude: 48.295399° N
Longitude: 11.999700° E

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

Twitter Tracks: Baseball, Local Election, Oil Spill

Twitter tracks from May, 2010:

• 2010 05 01 - Congrats to Berkner and Richardson HS baseball teams, co-champs of District 9-5A. One game playoff today to determine top seed in playoffs.
• 2010 05 01 - Play In May! That's the goal of every high school baseball team in Texas. Two RISD co-champions went at it today. http://goo.gl/miKc
• 2010 05 01 - Thanks to the entire DMN team for coverage of today's rally for immigration rights. Add "si se puede" to the great American rallying cries.
• 2010 05 01 - I'm just going to enjoy the spectacle of the Kentucky Derby and all its excesses and not once think of Sen. Mitch McConnell. ... Drats.
• 2010 05 01 - The best thing about the Kentucky Derby and all other big betting events??? Despite the fact that my pick loses, I never lose any money. :-)
• 2010 05 01 - I was for Richardson's bond election before, but now I've learned that my alley will likely get replaced if the bond passes. Woot!
• 2010 05 01 - The Blind Side: good feel-good movie, more a family movie than a football movie. Sandra Bullock was good, not great. Compare with Precious.
• 2010 05 02 - Richardson Echo letter to the editor: "Don't let Richardson become Bedford, Texas all over again." Ouch! http://goo.gl/etdD
• 2010 05 02 - Catch Conan on "60 Minutes?" You know how long that show has been on the air? It uses a mechanical stopwatch and a magazine as brand symbols
• 2010 05 02 - RT @WalkableDFW: "Funny that my iPhone always uses it's and its incorrectly and imposes its will upon me." Yeah, that's my story, too.
• 2010 05 02 - Headline: "Pope all but endorses authenticity of Turin Shroud." I detect a man desperate to change subject, even at cost of sounding silly.

After the jump, more Twitter tracks.

Route 66 And US 75 - ctd

Texola, Oklahoma

Yesterday, I blogged about old Route 66 and the small towns along it that withered and died when the new Interstate Highway bypassed them. I suggested that the towns may have been doomed in any case, but the freeways played their role. I suggested that fear of the same thing happening again is what keeps city fathers worshipping at the feet of freeways today. No one wants to be the next Texola, Oklahoma.

I quoted Patrick Kennedy as claiming that freeways are sucking the lifeblood out of cities and are a lifeline for suburbs that the suburbs would be better off severing to enable much needed reinvention. I said there was something that didn't seem quite right about that argument, but I never did get around to saying what it was. That's because I wasn't sure myself.

After the jump, my rambling attempt to understand just what it is that bothers me about Kennedy's argument.