What? Founded in 1990, WalkBoston is a nonprofit advocating to improve the quality of walking conditions for pedestrians throughout Massachusetts. The organization facilitates walks throughout the year, spearheads a number of educational initiatives, and publishes reports on building walkable communities.

In 2015 the WalkBoston published a report on low cost pedestrian improvements entitled Pedestrian Infrastructure: Strategies for Improving Pedestrian Safety Through Low-Cost Traffic Calming. The report focuses on traffic calming strategies that can be implemented quickly and at a low cost by an individual, organization or municipality. The suggested strategies incorporate placemaking, aesthetic improvements and community building as tools to address different types of traffic calming challenges a community may encounter.

Why? Pedestrian-friendly infrastructure can lead to a number of community benefits including increased wellness, reductions in crime and improved business performance. Though many cities want to improve pedestrian infrastructure, the process can often be viewed as cost prohibitive.

The Pedestrian Infrastructure report offers a number of low-cost traffic calming solutions that can be implemented at a variety of different levels. The range of outlined suggestions makes improving pedestrian infrastructure an accessible task that can be initiated by concerned residents anywhere.