All About Stroll Audits

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A Stroll Audit is usually step one in the direction of coverage, system, and atmosphere change which may enhance a group for folks of all ages.

On Tuesday, February 14^th, America Walks and AARP Livable Communities co-hosted a webinar on Stroll Audits and introduced a brand new alternative for funding and technical help. The Stroll Audit:An Efficient Software for Group Change offered an outline of how one can set up a Stroll Audit and included a panel of Strolling Faculty Fellows who mentioned their very own success tales.

The AARP Stroll Audit Software Equipment

The Stroll Audit is an especially versatile instrument for walkable group advocates. It may be used to have interaction the general public, construct consciousness of the significance of walkable design, determine particular pedestrian issues of safety, and advance coverage and group improvement objectives. Stroll Audits may be carried out alone, with a gaggle of different involved residents to doc wanted adjustments, or with public officers who’ve the ability to do one thing about it.

America Walks’ Tips on how to Conduct a Stroll Audit video identifies the “Prime Ten Ideas” for main a profitable Stroll Audit:

Scout the route fastidiously forward of time.
Don’t make it too lengthy – one mile is about proper.
Determine a various group of contributors.
Invite one or two public officers.
Select a information such because the AARP Stroll Audit Software Equipment
Convey alongside clipboards, printed guides, and pens.
Earlier than beginning, remind everybody to prioritize security.
Cease each few blocks to investigate situations. make notes. and take pictures.
On the finish, ask everybody to share their takeaways.
Take the whole lot you’ve discovered and construct a compelling presentation.

Through the first phase of the webinar, Rebecca Delphia (Senior Advisor with AARP Livable Communities) offered an outline of AARP’s Stroll Audit Software Equipment. This publication (which is a “will need to have” for each walkable group advocate) is on the market freed from cost from the AARP web site in each PDF and print codecs.

Half 1 (“Getting Began”) consists of a sequence of easy step-by-step directions for planning and conducting a Stroll Audit. Half 2 (“Data and Directions”) dives into the small print with a “Streetscape Vocabulary Checklist,” dialogue of the idea of “Full Streets,” and a walkability ranking scale from “nice” to “poor.” And Half 3 (“Taking Motion”) supplies invaluable recommendation on how one can current the outcomes of a Stroll Audit to elected officers and different decision-makers and advocate successfully for enhancements.

Lastly, the Stroll Audit Software Equipment contains eleven one-page worksheets, every of which focuses on a single side of walkability akin to “Sidewalks and Crossings,” “Road Security and Enchantment,” and Who’s Utilizing the Road — and Why?”

“Fast Wins” Ensuing from Stroll Audits

Within the subsequent phase of the webinar, three walkable group advocates (all graduates of the AARP State Strolling Faculty program) introduced particulars of Stroll Audits they’ve organized and the way they led to “fast wins.”

Whitney Jibben was a 2021 Fellow with the South Dakota State Strolling Faculty. In her function as an administrator at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, Whitney led a Campus Stroll Audit centered on scholar mobility and the objective of decreasing the variety of automobiles on campus. The general conclusion was that pedestrian security and luxury wanted to be improved, and particular points with lighting, sidewalk upkeep, and inexperienced house have been recognized.

A number of worksheets from the AARP Stroll Audit Software Equipment have been used to doc the group’s findings. Whitney credit this data-driven strategy for the truth that, following the Stroll Audit, enhancements have been written into the College’s Grounds Upkeep Plan. She additionally shared her technique with a nationwide viewers by giving a presentation and main a Stroll Audit on the Faculty Housing and Amenities Convention.

Ariel Hamburger is a Land Use and Environmental Planner with the County of San Diego. In 2021, she accomplished a Fellowship with the California State Strolling Faculty, and centered her Strolling Motion Plan on the North Park neighborhood of San Diego, the place she lives. Throughout her webinar presentation, Ariel described the issues brought on by extreme automobile speeds on 30^th Avenue, which has a number of locations residents need to entry by strolling.

The Stroll Audit was carried out in partnership with a professor at San Diego State College and her class on Analysis Strategies. College students carried out counts of pedestrians and cyclists, interviews with passers-by, and a land-use evaluation – outcomes included the set up of motorbike racks and pollinator planters. Coincidentally, the San Diego Affiliation of Governments put in crosswalks one block south of the audit space, and so Ariel is now utilizing these information to advocate for marked crosswalks at each intersection on this busy, multimodal hall.

The ultimate webinar presentation was delivered by Niki Delson and Kevin Schorzman from Carbondale, Colorado. Niki (an organizer with Age-Pleasant Carbondale, a former member of the City’s Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Trails Fee, and a graduate of the 2022 Colorado State Strolling Faculty) has carried out dozens of Stroll Audits with the AARP Software Equipment over a few years.

While on the Fee, she began working with Kevin (the City’s Public Works Director) to appropriate particular pedestrian hazards recognized throughout the Stroll Audits. Kevin commented on the significance of this relationship as a result of his workers didn’t have time or capability to audit the sidewalks.

Through the dialogue portion of the webinar, all of the panelists famous {that a} Stroll Audit serves two invaluable functions – as a data-gathering course of and as an academic and awareness-building exercise.

Funding and Assets for Conducting Stroll Audits

Within the ultimate phase of the webinar, Rebecca made an announcement about this 12 months’s AARP Group Problem grant program, which helps communities develop into nice locations for folks of all ages. In 2023, a brand new funding alternative – Capability-Constructing Microgrants – combines $2,500 in funding with coaching, cohort studying alternatives, and one-on-one teaching from America Walks to assist communities to implement Stroll Audits.
The on-line utility course of closes on March 15^th, 2023.