Dan Burden leads walking audit in Houston

“Worst sidewalk in America”

Jay Blazek Crossley, Feb 21, 12.

Walkability and street design expert Dan Burden today led a walking audit of a portion of Navigation Boulevard that is slated for massive improvement as part of a Livable Centers study by the Greater East End Management District.

Burden said the corridor had great potential to revitalize the neighborhood and bring about an economic boom for the area. At issue are the City’s Major Thoroughfare Plan, which calls for Navigation to become a 6-lane major thoroughfare even though it currently has very little traffic even for a 4-lane boulevard.

Most of the buildings along the way were built before the City passed Chapter 42 of the development code, which basically makes such urban form illegal, and Burden said that for developers willing to appeal to the city for a variance to build in the existing fashion are going to want to have some “certainty” that their investment would not be lost because a parking lot or other inappropriate project was constructed across the street.

During the tour, Burden stopped at one badly twisted and uprooted sidewalk and said “That could be the worst sidewalk in America.”

Burden is here on behalf of AARP and the Houston Coalition for Complete Streets. In addition to the walk audit, Burden met with executives of the Public Works department and also spoke before City Council, along with several of the Coalition members.

On Tuesday night, Burden delivered a free, public lecture at Texas Southern University. On Wednesday he will meet with executives from the Houston Fire Department, then hold a workshop with engineers and planners at H-GAC (a webinar will be available), and finish up with a lunchtime briefing at Houston Tomorrow’s Livable Houston event at H-GAC at noon (free and open to the public, rsvp).

UPDATE: KHOU has posted a video news story on Dan Burden’s walking audit (ad will play before story):