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    • Is Fayetteville the least walkable city in the USA? Youtuber tests
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    Is Fayetteville the least walkable city in the USA? Youtuber tests

    Harry Posted on

    A video posted on YouTube this month describing Fayetteville as the least walkable city in the United States had garnered more than 125,000 views as of Tuesday.

    video titled “I Walked in the Most Walkable City in America” written by YouTuber Sam ReidShowing residents of Reid and Fayetteville Preston Griffin It walks more than 13 miles from Fayetteville’s south side, starting near the Crown Complex near Owen Drive and ending on the city’s north side, past Ramsey Street.

    “The goal is to see one: how long it will take us, and two: how difficult it is to do daily tasks on foot in one of the most car-dependent cities in America,” Reid said. video.

    Reid is a Virginia-based YouTuber with over 209,000 subscribers who uploads to her variety show “The Studio Review” about food, travel and more.

    How did Fayetteville rank so low?

    In the introduction to the video, Reid said that every city in the US has a walk score from zero to 100 to determine how easy it is to get around on foot.

    Reid’s data appears to come from a source Walk Score’s 2021 research, a transportation and walkability improvement services company. The ranking is based on how easily residents can walk to grocery stores, schools, parks, restaurants and retail areas.

    The Walk Score study places cities like San Francisco, New York and Boston at the top of the list with scores of 80 and above, while Fayetteville is at the bottom with a Walk Score of 21.4.

    Later in the video, Reid said Fayetteville was tied with Chesapeake, Virginia, which had a Walk Score of 21.3.

    “But Fayetteville blew Chesapeake out of the water with much lower transit and bike scores,” he said. “I used this as a tiebreaker to give Fayetteville the edge over Chesapeake. Moreover, North Carolina also had the worst average walk score.”

    What does the video show?

    Reid and Griffin started their walking day at 8 a.m. and turned it into a game filled with challenges, including stopping at a convenience store to buy a gallon of milk to carry with them on the walk and a 30-minute penalty to stop walking if they stopped walking. I can’t complete a challenge.

    As the duo walked past the Crown Complex along Owen Drive, they quickly noticed the lack of a crosswalk.

    “You will see a lot of chaotic street crossings because in many cases we had no other option,” Reid said.

    For the first hour, Reid said, the couple walked along Owen Drive, a large road with sidewalks in some parts of the road and curbs that suddenly stopped in other parts.

    “I can’t imagine this being helpful in terms of disability accessibility,” he said.

    Other areas they passed through had tall grass and patches of sand.

    He also noticed that there were pedestrian crossings in some areas, but most of the time they were crossing busy streets on their own.

    After one stop Fayetteville’s Eiffel Tower replica At the Bordeaux Mall, the duo passed Cape Fear Valley Medical Center and made their first stop at Starbucks on Walter Reed Road, then strained to find new T-shirts to wear, later finding them at Weiner Works at 3204 Raeford Road. .

    As the two crossed the intersection from Owen Drive toward Raeford Road, Griffin described it as one of the most dangerous intersections in Fayetteville without a crosswalk.

    “I’ve seen four or five car accidents happen here,” Griffin said.

    The duo continued onto Raeford Road before heading to McPherson Church Road, stopping at the Food Lion at Westwood Mall to pick up a gallon of milk for one of their challenges.

    They continued down McPherson Church Road as Griffin pointed to two Waffle Houses across from each other at 551 McPherson Church Road and 4520 Yadkin Road before moving onto Skibo Road.

    They stopped at the Helping the Orphans Thrift Store at 1027 Pamalee Drive in an unsuccessful attempt to find a wheeled object to help them on their journey, before heading to 2014 Forest Hills Drive to visit the childhood home of rapper J. Cole. Fayetteville.

    They walked 11.4 miles by 1 p.m., followed shortly by another challenge to take photos near any church in Fayetteville, and spotted Calvary Baptist Church at 1943 Pamalee Drive.

    As they headed down Pamalee Drive towards Ramsey Street, they called Uber to help them cover a few miles. The first Uber driver refused to pick them up.

    “It’s worth noting that Fayetteville is the fifth largest city in North Carolina,” Griffin said. “So we are a complete city. This is not a small town. We have three Ubers. “Only one of them wants to take us.”

    The couple was dropped off at the intersection of Country Club Drive and Ramsey Street before continuing toward Ramsey, stopping at the Weiner Works on Ramsey Drive and accepting a 30-minute ticket for refusing an invitation to go to the post office. It required them to walk a mile in the opposite direction.

    After getting a pedicure during the 30-minute suspension, stopping by the Walmart on Ramsey Street and getting money from an ATM at the Circle K gas station, the two ended their trip at Griffin’s house.

    Reid said it took 8 hours and 43 minutes to cover the 16.57 miles, not including Uber rides.

    He ended the video by saying he agreed that Fayetteville deserved 21 Walk Points.

    “Perhaps you can petition your local government to put in more crosswalks and sidewalks to make it safer for people who don’t have access to a car,” Reid said.

    What viewers say

    Reid’s video received comments from some viewers who said they were from Fayetteville and from viewers from across the United States who thought it was an important issue.

    One audience member said they lived in Fayetteville and couldn’t complete a walk like Reid and Griffin, while another said they grew up in Fayetteville and still live here but couldn’t get paid to do a similar walk in the city.

    One viewer wrote: “My wife and I lived in Fayetteville while I was in the military. I would definitely not recommend you walk there for many reasons.”

    Another viewer said they lived in Fayetteville for more than 20 years and walked or ran most of the trails Reid and Griffin were on.

    “It was always an adventure,” the viewer said. “There are some nice bike paths and paths, but they don’t take you anywhere!”

    Another viewer said they live near the Fayetteville Eiffel Tower and confirmed that walkability in that area is “just as bad as depicted in the video.”

    Meanwhile, a student from Fayetteville State University said they were unaware that Fayetteville is considered the least walkable city in the United States.

    “I think I’ve gotten used to it,” the student said.

    Another said the video “shines a light on the reality for many people who lack consistent transportation,” while another said they hope the video brings attention to the lack of walkability in Fayetteville.

    “Walking should be fun and safe, not death-defying,” they said.

    One viewer pointed out that Fayetteville has a pedestrian plan.

    Fayetteville pedestrian plan

    In a message released Wednesday, Mayor Mitch Colvin said the city got $15 million from the bond package spent on sidewalks and that the city also increased spending on sidewalks in the last two budget cycles before the bond passed.

    “This is the largest expenditure on this product in the history of the city,” Colvin said.

    One video The city updates its pedestrian plan every five years and is working to update the 2018 Fayetteville Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan, Fayetteville transportation planner Virginia Small said in a report posted on the city’s YouTube page in August.

    “The City of Fayetteville’s pedestrian plan is to help identify areas around the city that need improvements to sidewalks, crosswalks or intersections, and the primary focus is to ensure that these areas are identified for the safety of our community that uses the sidewalk network,” Small said.

    In a statement Wednesday, a city spokesperson said the pedestrian plan also helps city leaders and staff “identify and prioritize sidewalk, trail and intersection improvements needed to create a safe, walkable and accessible city for residents and visitors.”

    Fayetteville recently received $6.9 million in Locally Directed Projects Program funding to build eight pavement projects through the Fayetteville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, said David Scott, a spokesman for the city.

    About 40 kilometers of pavement projects are planned to begin within the next five years, and 13 pavement projects are currently in the design phase, Scott said.

    At their August meeting, members of the Fayetteville-Cumberland Liaison Committee were updated on the city’s engineer consultant, Kittelson & Associate’s work on the pedestrian plan.

    Zachary Bugg, an engineer with Kittelson & Associates, said the update to the plan is part of the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s planning grant program.

    Bugg said the update to the plan began this spring to support the city and NCDOT in planning new sidewalks and crosswalks throughout the city and identifying challenge and priority areas.

    He said the city is working on an additional plan that reviews pedestrian connectivity and safety in areas near 64 Cumberland County Schools in Fayetteville city limits, which is separate from the pedestrian plan.

    On Wednesday, Scott said that during the update of the pedestrian plan, city officials sought input from residents on improvements they thought needed to be made.

    Scott, the city’s public transportation system Fayetteville Area Transit SystemIt also offers 17 routes in the city from Monday to Friday 05:30 – 19:00, Saturday 07:30 – 19:00 and Saturday 09:00 – 19:00.

    FASTTrac! He said the vehicles are available for disabled customers who cannot use the fixed route system.

    Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at [email protected] or 910-486-3528.

    Harry
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