A little over a month ago, I moved from my Central West End apartment to my current abode smack dab in the middle of Bevo Mill. Admittedly, Bevo is slightly outside the central corridor comfort zone I came to adore but alas I’ll make do after all it’s still the Gateway City.

Though I’ve suspected it for sometime now, living in the ever pedestrian friendly Central West End has spoiled me a bit. Walking through Bevo’s main business district around the intersections of Morganford and Gravois I’m saddened to see streets with four lanes of traffic running through such potentially great transit oriented development. Gravois is quite the swollen street with four lanes of traffic – two in each direction – and a parking lane on either side. Not only is such a wide road a challenge for pedestrians to cross due to sheer broadness but a street as wide as Gravois encourages vehicles to incase speed.

While inflated streets are absolutely a challenge to foot traffic, what I personally find most discouraging to pedestrians is the amount of time the sidewalks are broken to give way to driveways and parking lots. Every time the sidewalk is opened to allow for vehicles to cross the safe passage of non motorized transportation is threatened. The more vehicle cuts through a sidewalk, the less pedestrian friendly that sidewalk becomes until using it becomes so problematic that people choose not to use it unless the absolutely must.

I find streetscapes such as these disheartening, it’s made abundantly clear which type of transportation is welcome and which simply isn’t. As a citizen of the community whose mode of transit isn’t often the most welcomed I can’t help but look at a design such as this and ask, where was the forethought?