As immigrants without cars settle in suburban neighborhoods, simply crossing the street to buy groceries is becoming a life-and-death activity.
Responding to an increasing number of pedestrian fatalities in predominantly immigrant areas like Atlanta's Buford Highway, municipalities across the country are redesigning car-oriented neighborhoods to be more pedestrian-friendly. These actions coincide with efforts by health advocates and urban planners to tie neighborhood walkability to public health.
In Atlanta, "People of 37 nationalities live in a 16-square-mile area along the Buford Highway corridor." Of these, almost 12 percent do not own cars. This dynamic and the road's median-free seven lanes of traffic contributed to 34 pedestrian dealths and 305 injuries from 1996 to 2005.
Numbers like these are leading communities from Orlando to Southern California to the Washington, D.C. suburbs to change the way they plan and build roadways.
Thanks to Alex Pearlstein
FULL STORY: Georgia tries to improve deadly road for walkers
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