Walkability expert Dan Burden positions the group walking with him Wednesday, October 7, in a circle at the intersection of Portage and North Marley streets. Mr. Burden did this to illustrate how a mini traffic circle could work at such an intersection, slowing traffic speeds and creating a more inviting environment for pedestrians. Mr. Burden was brought into the community to offer an audit as part of a fiveyear Center for Disease Control grant received by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Community Health office. Some things to make St. Ignace more walkable and more friendly to visitors and prospective residents are narrower streets, wider sidewalks, more landscaping along the public walkways, and better signage, said Dan Burden, a walkability expert here to find ways to make the city more attractive to pedestrians and cyclists. He and a small group of St. Ignace city officials and community members, dressed for an early October chill, met Wednesday morning, October 7, at American Legion Park to walk through the downtown to see what is good and what can be improved.

Mr. Burden, who has evaluated pedestrian conditions in thousands of cities worldwide, said that building a community that encourages people to interact with each other makes a huge difference in attracting tourists and new residents, spurring downtown and business growth, and can even raise property values and stimulate the local economy.

"Streets that add value to homes and businesses are what we need to have in the future," he said. "It makes all the difference in the world if people want to be there or not."

Downtown Development Director Deb Evashevski said she appreciated the criticism and advice Mr. Burden offered, and looks forward to the report he will be submitting with recommendations and tools to help St. Ignace make improvements.

"You think you are doing a pretty good job making your downtown walkable," Mrs. Evashevski said. "It's good to hear what can be improved."

As the group wound its way down State Street from the park to Truckey Street, Mr. Burden was able to find issues with crosswalks, sidewalk and car lane width, parking, and landscaping that made the area difficult for pedestrians to traverse, instead of welcoming for them. He pointed to a motel as just one example in town of a business that is built behind its parking lot, which is more typical of a suburban design than of a small town design.

"What you have here is a suburban design in an area that wants to be urban," he said. "You could make it a more urban form with parking in the back. That is something that you could put into the town building code and not grant any variances on."

A few of the things lacking in this area of St. Ignace's downtown are enclosure and transparency, Mr. Burden said, two of the principles that govern his rating of walkability.

The enclosure principle attempts to create a safe environment for pedestrians, using the buffer of buildings on one side and trees and parked cars on the other to provide a sense of security to walkers on the sidewalks . Increased plantings along State Street and a reconfiguration of downtown parking are a few ideas Mr. Burden gave to enhance this feeling of enclosure.

Another principle, transparency, involves the openness of downtown buildings, achieved with a high percentage of windows and open design.

Imagability, or creating a unique look or character that cannot be found elsewhere, is another key piece of the puzzle, Mr. Burden said. Scaling signs and other sidewalk features correctly for pedestrians instead of motorists and creating a complex environment that offers a new experience each time someone visits are some of the other benchmarks of Mr. Burden's ideal walkable community.

"People will want to come back if there is a lot going on to look at and talk about," he said. "If you are still seeing new things on the fifth walk through, that is a good sign."

A "road diet" is one of the popular features of the new walkable city, Mr. Burden said, and could help make St. Ignace a safer and more friendly place to walk. He said national research has shown nine- or 10-foot-wide lanes have proven the safest lane width overall, and warned that wider lanes encourage high speeds, which can create an unsafe and unwelcoming environment.

When Kirkland, Washington, reduced a 21,000-car-a-day road from four to three lanes, the daily gridlock completely disappeared and the town got two bicycle lanes out of the deal. Studies show crash rates decrease between 34% and 40% when one lane is eliminated on a four-lane road, he said.

Near American Legion Park, at the bottom of the hill, State Street's lanes are about 20 feet wide, which could be a dangerous combination when combined with speed gained from driving downhill, Mr. Burden said. Even at the most narrow point, the main street's lanes are about 11 feet wide.

While the road is too wide, according to Mr. Burden, the sidewalks are uncomfortably narrow. Near Ace Hardware, the sidewalk measured four feet, eight inches, two inches short of the minimum for residential sidewalks and three feet short of the recommended eight feet for commercial districts.

"Two people cannot walk comfortably side by side here," Mr. Burden said. "You need to keep in mind how your pedestrian feels when they are walking."

Coming into St. Ignace with a fresh perspective, the walkability expert was able to point out details not noticed by residents, like the difficulty in seeing the tiny signs pointing to free city parking behind the downtown area.

Mrs. Evashevski said the addition of walkways from the downtown area to this visitor parking lot has helped, but people still aren't using the lots to their full potential.

"We have great parking out back," she said. "The question is, How can we better get people up there, because it is still not working."

Another way to slow traffic down and making crossing streets easier and more inviting for pedestrians is to create buffers like planters in the center of wide roads and traffic circles or mini-traffic circles in the center of busy intersections.

Mr. Burden said making communities walkable can reduce health problems like depression and diabetes, make the town attractive to new residents and business operators, and reduce dependence on automobiles and gasoline.

"The best solution," he said, "is to have more opportunities for walking and biking. We need to look through the eyes of the pedestrian."

He pointed out that planning walkable communities doesn't take a lot of complicated design and unlimited funding. In fact, he said Key West, Florida, was built by pirates and is still one of the most walkable communities in the nation.

"There are narrow streets, great plazas, and an inviting environment," Mr. Burden said. "The pirates got it right."

The difference elsewhere in the country, including St. Ignace, is that towns have been updated and redesigned for automobile traffic, not foot traffic.

"We need to stop building things according to these guidelines until we have some sensible guidelines," he said. "Until then, we need to just use common sense."

As well as critiquing the barriers St. Ignace has to pedestrians, Mr. Burden also suggested little changes that could help improve the city's walkability.

More prominently marked crosswalks, narrower lanes, wider sidewalks, more trees and roadside plantings, flower boxes on the tops of guardrails, mini traffic circles in the centers of intersections, an updated downtown parking plan, art and sculpture, and floating walkways were just a few of the ideas and suggestions Mr. Burden made during Wednesday afternoon's presentation at the St. Ignace Public Library, following the walk.

"You have all the qualities there, they just don't all look harmonious yet," he said of the city's potential to offer an inviting, walkable downtown.

Some ideas tossed out by community leaders after Mr. Burden's presentation included painted walkways to and from key downtown locations, simple children's games at parks, slower traffic speeds in the downtown area, more sidewalks throughout town, adding planters, creating bicycle lanes in the street, and providing music and announcements over the downtown loudspeakers all of the time, instead of just during special events.

Mrs. Evashevski said she felt the day of walking and talking was productive.

"We are a tourist area," she said. "You want to do whatever you can to make it better. I thought it was extremely worthwhile."

Once Mr. Burden finishes his final report and recommendations, city officials will review it and begin making decisions about what possible changes may be addressed.