By William C. Singleton III
Journal contributor
Homewood is once again Alabama’s most walkable city.
Homewood beat out Selma as the state’s most walkable city according to Walk Score (walkscore.com), a Seattle-based group that ranks the nation’s best cities for pedestrian travel.
This was the third year in a row Homewood ranked as the state’s most walkable city.
Homewood received a score of 40 compared to Selma’s 35, Birmingham’s 33, Mobile’s 32, Florence’s 30 and Tuscaloosa’s 30.
The 35 largest Alabama cities had an average walk score of 21. Alabaster (9) and Trussville (10) had the lowest walk score. Vestavia Hills had a 21 score, Mountain Brook 20 and Hoover 16.
All Alabama cities fell short of top metropolitan areas like New York City (87.6), the nation’s most walkable city, and San Francisco (84), Boston (80) and Philadelphia (77).
Alabama cities were judged still heavily reliant on automobiles to get around.
The website ranks cities based on their nearness to schools, grocery stores, parks, restaurants and other places residents should be able to access rather comfortably via foot. Walk Score’s mission, according to its website, is to promote walkable neighborhoods as the simplest and best solutions for the environment, health and economy.
Homewood Mayor Scott McBrayer said the city prides itself on being pedestrian friendly and continues to try to build on that.
City officials have embarked on an ambitious capital improvements plan which includes building sidewalks through the city.
“We’ve made a commitment to improve our city by making it more walkable and more accessible to our citizens,” the mayor said. “This is something our neighbors enjoy. They like seeing it. We view this as an investment in our city and our property values. The community as a whole has been very supportive of us continuing building sidewalks.”
The city also gets high marks for its Shades Creek Greenway Trail, a heavily traveled strip of trail that spans a portion of Lakeshore Parkway.
“That’s kind of spring-boarded us to where we are now. People love the greenway, and they love the sidewalks,” McBrayer said.