If you read recent resolutions and agreements that the Rockford City Council has adopted, you'll find all the right words are there: “multimodal”, “all ages and abilities”, “safe routes to school”, even “maximize carbon-free mobility”. All good.

Recently, I've been thinking about how this municipal value—safety—aligns with our city's existing conditions of pedestrian mobility. I began with the following questions:

How "safe" are pedestrians;

What areas are less safe than others for pedestrians; and

How can we work together to maximize safety and accessibility for non-motorized users of our transportation network?

Every so often I would hear of pedestrians getting hit by drivers on certain roads. So I began to research our library’s newspaper archive. Turns out we’ve had a problem with pedestrian collisions for some time. An article in the Rockford Register Star describes the treacherous conditions on a local thoroughfare, Alpine Road:

What used to be a comfortable country road has become one of the major links between the north and south portions of the city...Almost 40 accidents between Charles Street and Highcrest Road had occurred in less than three months. Last April the speed limit on Alpine was reduced to 45 miles per hour north of Spring Creek Road...But two pedestrian deaths in the last month indicate that safety is far from achieved. Pedestrian safety can be enhanced if sidewalks are available...Children, in particular, often walk on curbs or on lawns to get to their schools.

The date of the above text? January 1974. Over forty years ago.