This is part three of a special feature. Click here for Part 1 and Part 2. The final installment will run Thursday.
By Laura Hunt Miller
Ruston could use more pedestrian-friendly paths, but what is the best way to go about filling the gaps? Here are some of the best practices:
1. Continuity and Connectivity
Cities like Austin and Oxford maintain “connectivity maps” to identify the worst sidewalk gaps and set clear priorities for filling them, ensuring resources are spent where they make the biggest impact.
2. Strategic Infill
Many cities integrate infill projects into regular road repairs and new development so that missing links are filled automatically. Ruston has made a goal to utilize this approach, but we still have plenty of gaps that need to be closed where there currently are no plans for road improvements.
3. Accessibility and Design Essentials
Ideally sidewalks should be available for everyone to use, whether walking with friends, pushing a stroller, or using a wheelchair. Federal ADA standards recommend a minimum of five feet in width, with curb ramps and obstacle-free paths.
Cities can map out primary, secondary, and tertiary walking corridors, aiming for a five-foot standard on the main routes and narrowing widths on lower-priority ones to help make the system more feasible to employ.
4. Alternative Materials and Widening What We Already Have
Cities are experimenting with recycled aggregates, reclaimed brick, rubber composites, and other surfaces that cut costs and add character for sidewalk infill projects. And if existing sidewalks are not wide enough, sidewalks have been successfully expanded with material alternatives that transform outdated slivers of sidewalk into safe, functional walkways.
5. Complete Streets and Living Streets
Complete Streets policies require roads to be designed for all users: pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. Living Streets go further, slowing traffic and prioritizing people over vehicles on certain paths with green infrastructure, shared spaces, and social activity. These approaches ensure sidewalks are essential parts of the street and city-wide beautification efforts.
6. Green Infrastructure
Cities are increasingly using permeable paving, bioswales, and shade trees along walkways to manage stormwater, cool urban heat islands, and make walking more pleasant. In our climate, shaded sidewalks could be the difference between unbearable and actually inviting. Imagine that.
7. Community Placemaking
Sidewalks don’t just move people; they are where human interactions take place. Pop-up crosswalks, murals, and tactical improvements shift sidewalks from forgotten strips to beloved parts of community life.
8. Shared Streets
If a neighborhood resists adding sidewalks, it can create a shared street by slowing traffic and adding landscaping to make pedestrians feel safer. The difference, again, comes back to intent: sidewalks make walking reliable, while shared streets make it conditional.
With a thoughtful mix of strategies Ruston could start closing its connectivity gaps one block at a time. But how do we pay for it? In Part 4, we’ll look at funding strategies and partnerships that can lead to a safer, more walkable town.
