Health Department: Almost half of Missourians don't have sidewalks, don't walk regularly; 3/4 have no bicycle facilities in their community

For years we have been telling our policy leaders that Missourians walk and bicycle less than we should because we have far less safe places for bicycling and walking than we should. 

Waiting for MoDOT by Zaskem on FlickR, creative commons license
Waiting for MoDOT by Zaskem on FlickR, creative commons license

With $8 billion in Missouri transportation funding currently at stake--$8 billion in funding that could make a huge difference in improving the environment for Missourians to bicycle and walk with safety and convenience--it is important that we have solid data behind our argument.

Now a statewide survey conducted in 2011 by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services bears this out in a big way:
 
Amount of sidewalks is low--and almost exactly correlates with the amount of walking
  • Key facts: 56.4% of Missouri adults have sidewalks in their neighborhoods while 52.7% have walked in their neighorhood for leisure or to get around in the past 30 days.

The fact that nearly 50% of Missourians live in a place with absolutely no sidewalks in their neighborhood is nothing short of flabbergasting.  Fixing this problem should be among our top statewide health priorities. 

Sidewalk in neighborhood
Sidewalk in neighborhood

Unfortunately the Health Department didn't provide a correlation analysis of the people who have sidewalks in their neighborhoods versus the people who walk in their neighborhoods.  But other studies have shown that the link between available facilities and usage is very, veyr high--it would be surprising if it were not the case in Missouri as well.

Walking is by far the number one source of physical activity for Missourians

  • Key fact: 56.1% of adults reported walking was their primary source of physical activity.

It is no surprise that walking in the primary source of physical activity for most Missourians.  Walking is a basic, essential human activity. Missouri policy leaders need to pay far more attention to making the built environment work for people who want to walk.

Less than 1/4 of Missourians have bicycle facilities in their community 

  • Key Fact: Only 23.5% of Missourians live in place that has any on-street bicycle accommodations.

Our best estimate is that Missourians bicycle about half the national average--and now we have good evidence of one of the main reasons for that relatively low level. Not every road and street needs a shoulder or bike lane--but on the streets that do need it, very few bicyclists will venture unless bicycle facilities are provided.

And keep in mind--the question asked, "Do roads and streets in your community have shoulders or marked lanes for bicycling?"  So even if your community has only a few areas with shoulders or marked lanes--but many other locations where they are needed but not provided--the answer to this question is still "Yes". 

Bicycle facilities
Bicycle facilities

We don't know how many Missourians live in communities with really complete, connected systems for bicycling--but we can assume that number is far lower than the 23.5% whose communities have at least some facilities.

Data needed

  • Amount of bicycling in Missouri: The survey asked about how many Missourians walk to a destination or for leisure in the past 30 days.  But it didn't ask how a similar question about bicycling.  We still don't have a really good, statewide figure for the number of Missourians who bicycle.
  • Trail availability and use: The survey was focussed on bicycle and pedestrian accommodations on roads and streets.  It didn't ask about the availability or use of trails, which would be an additional piece of helpful information.
  • Walking/running for exercise: The question asked about walking to destinations and leisure in your neighborhood--which provides interesting data but also excludes some important pieces of the puzzle.  People who run, who walk more for exercise than leisure, who run or walk in other locations than their own neighborhood--all those factors and more remain to be measured
  • Data over time: It is unfortunate that the DHSS has not been collecting this basic data on bicycling and walking on its annual survey for past years.  With that data we could see trends and patterns that would help immensely with planning and with determining whether the money spent to improve our communities for bicycling and walking is being spent in the most effective way.  

    Even though, as far as we know, DHSS doesn't have have historical data on most of the questions we have identified above, it is important, now that the agency has begun to collect the data, to continue collecting it each year.  This data will be absolutely invaluable in the future.

Conclusion - We finally have some good data on bicycling and walking in Missouri, but more is needed

We commend the Department of Health and Senior Services for including these important questions on their statewide survey.  We understand that funding from the Missouri Livable Streets initiative was responsible for having these questions added to the survey.

We encourage the Department to continue and expand its efforts to collect reliable data about walking, running, hiking, and bicycling patterns of Missourians and the relationship between the built environment in our communities and our community health.

Key sections of the DHSS Report

The 2011 Missouri Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2011 Key Findings report includes these paragraphs:

Over half (56.1 percent) of adults reported walking was their primary source of physical activity. (p. 5)
 
Physical Activity Environment
Over one-half (56.4 percent) of Missouri adults had sidewalks in their neighborhoods. Forty-one (40.6) percent described street lighting in their neighborhood as very good or good for walking at night. Eighty-one (81.0) percent said their neighborhood was extremely or quite safe from crime. Nearly one quarter (23.5 percent) lived in communities in which roads and streets had shoulders or marked lanes for bicycling.  (p. 8)
 
Walking in Neighborhood
Forty-seven (47.3) percent of Missouri adults did not walk in their neighborhood for leisure or to get around in the past 30 days. Twenty-four (23.7) percent walked on one to six days, 10.2 percent walked on seven to 13 days and 19.1 percent walked on 14 or more days of the past thirty days. More than one-third (34.5 percent) said lack of time, a medical condition or lack of energy/motivation was the number one reason for not walking more frequently in their neighborhood. Twenty-three (23.2) percent said weather, 13.2 percent said too much traffic, no sidewalks, safety/crime or nowhere to go, and 29.0 percent said they exercised elsewhere or there was another reason for not walking in their neighborhood more often. (p. 9)
 

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