S U R F A C E   T R A N S P O R T A T I O N  P O L I C Y   P R O J E C T 1001 Marquette Ave. NW 
Albuquerque, NM 87102

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                          April 1, 2003
CONTACT: DeAnza Valencia (505) 243-8666 
Full Report Available at:  www.transact.org

NEW POLL SHOWS AMERICANS EAGER TO WALK MORE, SUPPORT SPENDING ON A BETTER WALKING ENVIRONMENT

Albuquerque, NM -- A new national survey released today on attitudes toward walking finds that Americans want to walk more places more often, and are willing to invest in making it possible. Poll results show that if given a choice between walking more and driving more, 55 percent of adults choose walking more. The poll shows overwhelming support for policies to make the walking environment less dangerous for people of all ages, and especially children. A majority (68 percent) favor putting more federal dollars toward improving walkability, even within a constrained budget.

“We need to make walking a safe, easy and appealing option here in New Mexico,” said Judith M. Espinosa, Director of UNM’s ATR Institute and national board member of the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP.) “Walking is a critical part of the transportation system, but our institutions, programs, policies, and funding aren't providing the balance that citizens want.”

Nearly half of Americans consider traffic where they live a problem, yet building new roads is the least popular long-term solution among choices offered in the survey.  According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, on average people in the mountain states region are spending 65 minutes per day in a car and 51 percent of all of their trips under a half-mile are made in a vehicle.   

Sixty-six percent of the people polled said that the best solution is to “improve public transportation” or “develop communities where people do not have to drive long distances to work or shop.” Only 25 percent of Americans advocate building new roads. 

Policies that would make streets more friendly for walkers find overwhelming support in the poll:

• Design Streets for Slower Traffic Speeds: 84%
  A wide majority support using state transportation dollars for street design that slows down traffic in residential areas, even though they may have to drive more slowly themselves. A majority of Americans (63%) report speeding as a problem in their neighborhoods.
• Use Federal Funds to Make Walking Safer from Traffic: 68%
  A majority support increasing federal spending on making sure people can safely walk and cross the street, even within a constrained budget. 
• Fund Safe Routes to School: 74%
  A majority support using state transportation dollars to protect the walk to school from traffic dangers, making it easier for children to walk to school, even within a constrained budget. 

Recently, Senator Linda Lopez (D-Bernalillo County) passed legislation (SB 556) that would set up a “Safe Routes to Schools” program within the New Mexico Highway and Transportation Department (NMSHTD.)  The program is designed to make it easier for kids to bike and walk to school through funding engineering improvements around schools. 

The New Mexico Legislature also passed companion memorials (SJM 55, HM 16) requesting that New Mexico direct more of its efforts and federal transportation funding on improving bicycle and pedestrian access and on traffic-calming projects in school zones rather than simply building and widening intersections.

Having a walking-friendly environment is especially important in light of the current epidemics of obesity and diabetes, which are caused and exacerbated by physical inactivity. Currently, one in five New Mexican adults are obese.  In New Mexico, about 17% of people 40 and over have diabetes and one in every 400-500 children and adolescents has type 1 diabetes. 

"If Americans had more opportunities on an everyday basis to walk and bike to work, we would be a much healthier nation.  No wonder we have an epidemic of obesity in this country," commented Dr. Steve Pilon, an Albuquerque physician and walking and biking advocate.

Melinda Smith the Executive Director of 1000 Friends of New Mexico stated, “Our current development patterns and zoning codes discourage walking since we plan, design and build facilities just for cars at the expense of other modes.”

Since consumer demand for walking is on the rise, some local developers are successfully meeting that demand.“We don't just build buildings,” says Rob Dickson, Owner of Paradigm & Company, Albuquerque developers.We design and provide a 'live-work-walk-shop-play' lifestyle that puts most of life's daily needs within walking distance.Our residences lease and sell more quickly as a result."

"In New Mexico the accident rate for pedestrians is also disproportionately high, and we need to address this by investing in safe, convenient facilities for walking," said DeAnza Valencia, Director of the New Mexico STPP office.  Currently, New Mexico is spending less than one percent of its federal transportation dollars on pedestrian and bicycle facilities.  In Albuquerque, 22.4 percent of all traffic deaths were pedestrians, much higher than the national average of 11.8 percent. 

The Surface Transportation Policy Project made recommendations to Congress on how the federal transportation law, up for reauthorization this year, could give communities the resources to become more walkable:

• Authorize a national Safe Routes to School program to dedicate federal safety funds to improving the walking environment around schools;
• Incorporate pedestrian and bicycle accommodations in every transportation project;
• Provide local decision-makers with more of the federal transportation dollars, as local governments own 75 percent of the roads and streets in America's transportation system; and
• Improve data and research efforts - currently only walking to work is counted in traffic studies.

This poll was made possible by the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The poll was conducted by telephone in October 2002 by Belden, Russonello and Stewart, with a sample size of 800 adults 18 years and over. The margin of sampling error is ±3.5 percentage points.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, N.J., is the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. It concentrates its grantmaking in four goal areas: to assure that all Americans have access to quality health care at reasonable cost; to improve the quality of care and support for people with chronic health conditions; to promote healthy communities and lifestyles; and to reduce the personal, social and economic harm caused by substance abuse – tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.

STPP is a national not for profit coalition of more than 800 organizations working to ensure that transportation policy and investments strengthen the economy, promote social equity, and make communities more livable.