The City of Somerville was earlier this month voted the seventh most walkable city in the nation up from its previous position in 10th place as a result of successful ongoing initiatives by the city to encourage walking and biking.
Walkscore.com, an organization that promotes walkable neighborhoods as a solution for environmental, health and economic problems, compiled the ratings. Somerville was also announced as the ninth most transit-friendly city in the nation.
In the past few years, the City of Somerville has developed large-scale projects that reflect a desire for a safer, cleaner and more close-knit community, according to Representative Director of Somerville Communications Jaclyn Rossetti.
The mayor [Joseph Curtatone] and the administration are really committed to creating a community thats an exceptional place to live, work, play and raise a family, she said. A lot of our policies are created around these orienting values. We want it to be more pedestrian-friendly all-around.
The largest of these projects involves continued construction of the Lower Broadway area in East Somerville, Rossetti said. The city is working to widen sidewalks, create more space for pedestrians and cut the number of driving lanes by half. Smaller initiatives include installing longer walking signals at crosswalks, as well as adding brighter and longer lasting road paint.
Rossetti added that many community members are enthusiastic about efforts to make Somerville more walkable.
Our residents are conscious of the effort and really want to be more active, she said. We really want people to get out and learn more about our business centers and small neighborhoods that make our city unique. Each one has a different flavor, a different culture, and people can learn just by walking through them. We hope this will make Somerville more of a destination.
Somerville placed just behind New York City, N.Y., and Cambridge, Mass., at fifth and sixth places, respectively, according to the City of Somerville website. Scores from the most recent census also show that about 12.5 percent of the citys population walks to work, which is the 11th highest percentage in the United States.
According to Fannie Koa, communications and outreach specialist for the Tufts Office of Sustainability, the movement toward a more environmentally friendly transit system extends far beyond Somerville, with systems coming into place all around Massachusetts to increase walkability.
Many of these efforts including Massachusetts Car Free Week in September and the annual Bay State Bike Week in May are run through NuRide, an organization that offers a reward program for using green transportation methods. Participants can exchange points for coupons, tickets and retailer discounts, Koa said.
She encouraged Tufts students and Somerville residents to participate in the program.
Everyone who lives in Massachusetts can build up points and cash in for walking, Koa said. The program rewards trips that dont use cars, like walking to the library or the grocery store.
According to Koa, Tufts works with the surrounding community to facilitate easy transit through programs like Hubway, a Boston-based bike share.
All the squares around us, including Davis, Packard and Powderhouse, have Hubway stations owned by the City of Somerville, she said. The area is really good about making all of these options available.
