Although Kate Barber has a car she uses to go to the grocery store, she and her husband purposely bought a house downtown so their family could easily walk places.
“The kids finally are starting to be able to walk and bike to school on their own,” she said. “That's a big part of our lifestyle.”
As the local project manager for the Healthy Kids Community Challenge, a program that encourages kids to lead healthy, active lives, one of Barber's goals is to get kids walking where they want to go.
She said she's thrilled Healthy Kids Community Challenge — along with the City of Greater Sudbury — was able to partner with Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury for the group's new project, Walk Sudbury.
The project has installed 198 pedestrian wayfinding signs in the downtown and communities leading into the downtown (such as Minnow Lake and the Donovan) to encourage Sudbury residents to walk to popular destinations.
The signs, made from inexpensive coroplast, list the walking distances in minutes and the number of steps it will take to get to a particular destination.
“I love this project, because it reminds people it's good to use walking as your way of transportation,” Barber said. “When you have a sign telling you it's only 12 minutes to get somewhere, you think 'I could do that.'”
Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury co-chair Naomi Grant said she's a big fan of walking, too.
“Walking is my main way of getting around,” she said.
“I do really like walking. I find it's a good way to think about things. You're outside. It clears your head. My kids are both big walkers, as well. As a family, we've always walked everywhere as soon as they were out of the strollers.”
Grant said she wants to thank the 25 volunteers who walked more than 300 kilometres while mapping out the walking routes and putting up the signs.
Visit walksudbury.ca for maps and information about the walking routes.
