This route passes through a few distinct areas just west of downtown along Versailles Road, including industrial buildings along Trafton, stub neighborhoods along Halls and Devine, commercial space on Sparta and retail establishments along Versailles.
Sidewalk along this section of Versailles has little elevation separation from the street.
The key learning for me came from a short discussion I had with one of the denizens of the area while waiting for a light. I commented on the difficulty of riding along Versailles on a bicycle, as she was doing. She was very matter-of-fact about it. She shrugged and said “you get used to it.” And this is true. Really, this stretch of road isn’t much worse than some streets I walked along frequently not long ago. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t improvements that could and should be made here. It does point out that, terrifying though they may seem, the perception of danger may be amplified by thinking too much about it. It is at least possible to get around by walking along streets like Versailles.
One of a few nice mid-century office buildings along Sparta
Two unusual buildings in the commercial area near Village and Versailles
Today’s walk was in the Holiday Hills area, north of Versailles Road and Alexandria. This area has a mix of retail space along Alexandria and Village near Versailles, apartments, duplexes and single family homes. It appears to generally have been built out in the 1960s.
Supermarket on Alexandria
I was really impressed by how well this area seems to work. I passed retail, multi- and single-family housing, a park, bus stops, and even a library. All of these were being used. The sidewalks were not lacking for people I think about and talk about walkable access to things like parks, transit, and libraries, but sometimes imaging what it might feel like in practice in an average neighborhood is difficult; defining what how it should word, elusive. To see it at work in an established neighborhood was thrilling.
A few thoughts on what worked especially well and why: First, the retail was very focused on the needs of a Latino and Spanish-speaking customer base. Where most establishments of niche markets have to serve a geographically diverse customer base, these stores seem to have a pretty concentrated customer base. Second, the retail is ringed by high-density housing, with lower density housing beyond that. Plentiful nearby high-density housing seems to provide a critical mass of people who are willing to walk to nearby stores, parks, and transit, and this “activates” the sidewalk. Drivers are cognizant of pedestrians–they expect people to be crossing streets on foot. So, enough people are walking that walking is actually safer. Walking seems so natural here. I caught someone leaving there house to walk to some destination as casually as I might walk to another room. Infrastructure, attitudes, customer base and destinations reinforce each other to make the whole thing work efficiently.
Today’s walk consisted of a short path through the Holiday Hills subdivision as well as the adjacent stretch of Versailles Road. The neighborhood seems to date from the 1960’s, with familiar ranch houses similar to those in other neighborhoods built at the same time. Street names in neighborhoods can sometimes be incomprehensible. The names here were not only consistent (French place names), they also managed to play off the name of the arterial, though of course, we pronounce Versailles a little differently!
The neighborhood didn’t offer much in the way of surprises, though Versailles road did. Versailles road looks different at three miles per hour, and the transition from the commercial to residential between Parker’s Mill and Bordeaux is more evident. Residential spaces along major, high-speed roads generally seem to be pretty well shielded by foliage. At 45 miles per hour, the houses may as well not exist as far as most of us are concerned and perceptually, it feels like going from commercial district to, well…, nothing. On foot (in winter, at least), the houses are visible, and one has plenty of time to wonder, When would it have seemed like a good idea to build a house along Versailles Road?
The end of this cul-de-sac offers a view into an adjacent one.
Versailles has plenty of curb breaks, along the residential section as well as the drive-through-dominated commercial section. My pedestrian paranoia kicked in while I was walking with traffic–I was concerned a car my approach from behind me and clip me while turning right off Versailles. It may sound like I don’t have much faith in drivers to spot someone walking in broad daylight, but my paranoia may have been well-founded, as I saw the same man nearly hit twice in a matter of minutes while trying to cross Alexandria and Versailles roads in his wheelchair, both times by drivers making right hand turns and not paying attention. One vehicle glided through the stop line and missed him by a matter of inches; the driver quickly made sure no cars were coming, then made the turn. I don’t the driver ever realized someone was there. And maybe that’s the point. Survival in this world requires, at the minimum, assuming drivers don’t realize you are there.
