Why is walkability to public schools & stores so hard to find?

[Anonymous]

I’m seeing listings on Redfin that are 3+ miles away from the zoned school!

[Anonymous]

Look in friendship heights

[Anonymous]

Because schools are big. ES have 500+ kids instead of small ones. And it only gets bigger from there.

[Anonymous]

Because schools and stores typically aren’t built close to each other

[Anonymous]

Schools are built into neighborhoods/subdivisions Grocery stores not so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because schools are big. ES have 500+ kids instead of small ones. And it only gets bigger from there.

+1

Everything is on a massive scale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because schools are big. ES have 500+ kids instead of small ones. And it only gets bigger from there.

+1

Everything is on a massive scale.

Yes. And even if you do find something walkable it's very rare to be walkable to ES and MS and HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because schools are big. ES have 500+ kids instead of small ones. And it only gets bigger from there.

+1

Everything is on a massive scale.

Yes. And even if you do find something walkable it's very rare to be walkable to ES and MS and HS.

My kids had a bus to ES but are walkable to MS and HS and I really appreciate that. ES kids still need parents to take them to/from school so the walkability is of limited value IMO. But the independence for teens in getting to/from school has been great.

[Anonymous]

When we lived in Arlington our kids could easily walk to all three schools (ES, MS, HS) in their pyramid.

[Anonymous]

We live in inside the beltway Silver Spring, a 10 min walk to school (ES and MS) and 15 from Giant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we lived in Arlington our kids could easily walk to all three schools (ES, MS, HS) in their pyramid.

We are in Arlington too and are just over a mile from all three schools. On the edge of the walk zone for MS and HS but just over it for ES so could use a bus. They would all be about a 20 minute walk. To give us more time in the a.m, we generally drive them to school. Had to pick up from extended day in ES but in MS and HS they have liked walking home with friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we lived in Arlington our kids could easily walk to all three schools (ES, MS, HS) in their pyramid.

We are in Arlington too and are just over a mile from all three schools. On the edge of the walk zone for MS and HS but just over it for ES so could use a bus. They would all be about a 20 minute walk. To give us more time in the a.m, we generally drive them to school. Had to pick up from extended day in ES but in MS and HS they have liked walking home with friends.

I just looked again and ours was 12 minutes walking to ES and MS in Arlington and 21 minutes to the high school. Kids always walked unless the weather was really bad.

[Anonymous]

The short answer to your question is 50+ years of poor urban planning and car-centric design. In most cases, the decision to make things unwalkable was very much on purpose. We've (mostly) realized the error of that approach by now, but walkable spaces are now pretty scarce outside of pre-WWII neighborhoods, and they're enough in demand that they go for a large price premium even though walkability doesn't really cost more to build.

We're starting to retrofit walkable infrastructure into suburban neighborhoods, but it'll take decades, and we're limited with what can be done within the constraints of many of the choices that are already baked in.

[Anonymous]

Town of Vienna baby!
When we toured we were told kids walk to ES (one of 3) and high school. They were not able to walk to MS, because it was 2-3 miles away depending on “neighborhood” - 10 min drive at 35 mph through the neighborhoods and with the stop lights.

We didn’t buy there, but it was intriguing.

Also grocery stores, dentist, pediatrician, nail salons, restaurants, etc are all less than a mile away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The short answer to your question is 50+ years of poor urban planning and car-centric design. In most cases, the decision to make things unwalkable was very much on purpose. We've (mostly) realized the error of that approach by now, but walkable spaces are now pretty scarce outside of pre-WWII neighborhoods, and they're enough in demand that they go for a large price premium even though walkability doesn't really cost more to build.

We're starting to retrofit walkable infrastructure into suburban neighborhoods, but it'll take decades, and we're limited with what can be done within the constraints of many of the choices that are already baked in.

Ding ding ding. Basically op, it’s literally illegal to build walkable neighborhoods in most of America. That’s the reason AU Park is so absurdly expensive