In the US many cities and towns were designed primarily for motor vehicle transportation, this can make walking and biking difficult and sometimes dangerous. Walk audits are a tool that can help in creating communities where residents can participate in making healthy, safe, walkable streets real. In a walk audit, community members go for a walk together, noting what makes their streets feel comfortable for walking and what’s missing.

Greeley-Evans Transit, City of Greeley, NoCo Bike & Ped Collaborative, Town of Severance. 

While walk audits can be done solo, they are most often conducted by a group of people using a tool to assess street infrastructure and conditions along a planned route to assess the current walkability. Walk audits can document barriers to walking, positive features, safety concerns, wayfinding, and perceptions of the walking environment which, once addressed, make it better for people of all ages and abilities.

Walk audits can be used to:

• Identify walking barriers and benefits in a community.
• Bring community members of all walks together to discuss problems and brainstorm solutions.
• Identify disparities by assessing whether different neighborhoods have walking environments that differ in infrastructure and quality.
• Determine problems that can be easily fixed.
• Identify needed improvements to be included in funding asks, plans, and projects.
• Engage elected and appointed officials around a problem before requested changes.