Biking and walking is good for businesses? And communities?

The discussion of whether city improvement which increase biking and walking, or decrease car traffic, are bad for business is one that is going on around the country these days. After the economic ups and downs of the last decade, it's understandable to be wary.

But changes being made in cities around the world show that improvements like making streets more friendly to walking and biking or calming traffic can have positive impacts for business, quality of life, and public health. I'm excited about the possibilities that these 'livable' models hold for urban neighborhoods that face economic depression or increased rates of asthma from traffic pollution. Beyond transportation policy, successful programs like the Norris Square Neighborhood Project show how 'livable' improvements as simple as a community garden can help a neighborhood physically, socially, and economically.
(In fact, a Transportation Alternatives study found that community gardens boost the value of adjacent properties).

These thoughts come from an article I recently found from Austin on Two Wheels which offers a very sensible position on how biking and walking improvements help communities. Some excerpts are below:

The Economics of Bike Boulevards: Debunking the myth that bike infrastructure will hurt business

A quick look at what other cities have done to calm traffic and create space for pedestrians and bicycles have done nothing but improve property values and business in general. An August 2008 Transportation Alternatives multi-city study found that reducing automobile traffic on streets increased property values from anywhere between 10-30% after calming was implemented. Moreover for owners of commercial property, tenant vacancy rates improve in one instance having vacancy rates falling an astonishing 70% to 20% within five years of implementing measures to reduce car traffic. As for retail business, there is only upside with sales jumping an average of 10-25% with the creation of multi-modal space. Increased pedestrian and bicycle use appears to be very good for business.

So why is this happening? ...Well, bike boulevards and other traffic calming maintain access for customer traveling by car while all but eliminate cut through traffic. This cut through traffic is simply trying to get elsewhere limiting likelihood of spontaneous stops. So if traffic calming does not adversely affect current customer access where is the economic growth coming from? When you create a space for pedestrians and bicyclists, you are creating a place where people travel at a slower pace and tend to linger. This means more retail business. Indeed, this was the reason indoor malls were created. By making a space for people to shop and linger, you greatly increased the amount and frequency in which people make purchases. And why the property value increase? It turns out for as much as people like the convenience of cars they don’t like the reality of traffic very much. The Transportation Alternatives study found homes on quiet streets within the same neighborhood command 10% more in sale value versus their counterparts on busy streets.

Read the entire article here.

Sounds pretty similar to the discussions surrounding the Spruce and Pine bike lanes, right?

Check out the Austin Article, and then the in-depth (and really cool) Transportation Alternatives study 'Streets to Live By'.