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===== Is Cary Walkable =====

By Valerie Marino, Staff Writer
The roads of Cary are lined with miles upon miles of sidewalk. Are you using them?

With rising gas prices, a growing emphasis in our society on green living and even concerns about health and fitness, it stands to reason that people should be walking more, and not just for a leisurely stroll.

But is Cary truly a walkable town? Could you walk to the grocery store, a restaurant, the library or other businesses from your home?

“It’s a huge issue for the town,” said Juliet Andes, a planner for the Town of Cary. “You’ll see the issue of walkability inserted into many facets of what the town does.”

Andes said walkability is one of many things taken into consideration when land is being developed for residential and commercial purposes.

“The goal is to really locate different land uses in compact areas to make residences and businesses and retail and office compatible and accessible,” Andes said.

It’s something evident when you look at Patrick Verdi’s west Cary neighborhood, Stone Creek Village, designed for its proximity to shopping.

Verdi lives in a townhome practically adjacent to the restaurants and shopping at the corner of Davis Drive and High House Road.

“This is ideal,” Verdi said. “We go to the coffee place, [get] ice cream for the grandkids. I walk to the Harris Teeter every morning for the paper.”

New developments like Verdi’s have requirements that include building sidewalks, but that has not been the case in all parts of Cary.

“Some of our older neighborhoods were built before those regulations were in place,” Andes said.

The town has $1 million set aside for new sidewalks each year. Residents can petition for a sidewalk through the town’s sidewalk request program, which Andes said is “insanely popular.”

About a dozen sidewalks are on the town’s priority list for 2008.

Cary resident Paola Pagano said she’s looking forward to the completion of sidewalks around her own neighborhood, Cameron Pond.

“I live in west Cary and they’re still doing a lot of building,” she said. “Not all the sidewalks connect yet but when they do I’ll walk to the supermarket.”

Pagano already takes advantage of some of the walkable areas of Cary. She and coworker Erin Brown walk a four-mile stretch around Davis Drive during their lunch break about once a week.

Andes said town officials strive for the whole town to be walkable.

“Our activity centers and mixed-use centers are planned from the beginning to be pedestrian- and mobility-oriented,” Andes said.

“That’s just a goal of the town in general is to have a safe pedestrian environment.”

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