Walk Score yesterday released new “heat maps” that show neighborhood walkability. This addition gives a visual representation of the walkability of your place, beyond the numerical walk score for your address.
You can view the map for Carson City. How do we do? Overall, our walk score is 44, which is below average for Nevada but not horrible. The data is from two zip codes, 89701 and 89703, but strangely the third 89706 zip code where I live is missing. My address walk score is 75, great for Carson City, but I suspect that is based in part on amenities that are no longer available, as there are a lot of empty storefronts in my part of town.
It is worth zooming in on various parts of the map to see what the walkability and bikeability of your neighborhood is, as well as where you shop and work and play.
Walk Score is by no means perfect. It makes a lot of assumptions about what kinds of amenities people want, which may not be your priorities, it doesn’t do a great job of determining accessibility, as an amenity across a busy street with poor pedestrian access and protection rates just as high as one without the hazard, and of course there is a lot of fuzziness. For example, the green areas on the map are all clustered around Carson Street, because that is where the businesses are, but crossing Carson Street can be an uncomfortable challenge for adults and a too-risky crossing for kids. But I think these Walk Score maps are a useful measure to help us understand where we live and what we might do to make our place better.
