Make Time to Walk

Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. ~Steven Wright

I was born a walker. Growing up in a one car family that my father needed to get to work while living in the outskirts of town meant that if you wanted to do anything or go anywhere you relied on your feet. This was so ingrained that I did not bother get a drivers license until I was 25. When I moved to the city in my early adulthood, I relied on buses to transport me to work until a strike taught me that the hour and a half walk to and from was reasonable and pleasant, at least on the good weather days. For seven years, while living in the car-obsessed and sidewalk-phobic suburban USA, I slowly lost the habit, but I've been gaining it back, going on almost daily adventures of urban exploration.

It never ceases to amaze me how little many of my friends know of their own backyards, even when they have lived in the area all their lives. We have traded an adventurers' soul for the mundane, stress inducing car commute, even driving to the store a few blocks away. Reassessing my own life and stress, I came to the realization that I was a lot happier as a walker, in the fresh air, in nature, interacting with people, seeing the small little things that make city life or country living so pleasurable, and which often get missed in the car.

I'll share my favourite walks and memories in and around my current home of Toronto, as well as Halifax, Chicago and Paris. Take a stroll with me.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Pedestrian Pride in Pickering

It's nice to see some forward thinking and this is certainly a feature that is not used enough along the numerous highways and multi-lane streets throughout the GTA.  Thanks to our obsession with the car, so much of the City and it's surrounding bedroom communities is rendered divided and unaccessible to the average pedestrian.  Walled off highways.   Intersections of six or eight lanes.  Ramps on and off highways slicing through pedestrian sidewalks.  Often, even though your destination may only be a very short distance away, as the crow flies, you may find yourself forced to walk a considerable distance out of your way or drive or use public transit.  This is certainly one very constructive and relatively affordable way to ease some congestion, encourage people to use other more green ways of getting themselves around and would certainly go a very long way to making life a little easier and safer for those who chose to use their own two feet.  

GO Transit will be moving forward to construct a pedestrian bridge from their Pickering Station over the 401 and into the downtown core.  The notion of building a bridge here has been in the planning stage for several years now.  It is a very beautiful design and should hopefully encourage more people to take the GO on their commutes and perhaps actually encourage more visitors and business into the local area.  It will be enclosed and sheltered from the elements and fully accessible, thanks to elevator access.  I think once it's completed I may journey out that way to have a first hand look.   CBC has provided a great photo gallery on their local Metro Morning site which you can check out below:

http://www.cbc.ca/metromorning/2011/01/photogallery---pedestrian-overpass-in-pickering.html

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