2008-09-02_PR Comm Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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There are many factors that mare up the perceived quality of life for a community; education, diverse recreation opportunities, strong economy, clean and healthy environment and convenient transportation are just a few. A successful pathway network can help make a community a better place to live, work, play or visit by improving the quality of life. Creating places for light traffic means more than just special trails, though those might certainly be an important part of an overall plan. Creating an active community environment means taking a look at the broader scope of where there are, and aren't, opportunities to safely connect to destinations. It involves land use design, retrofitting the transportation infrastructure, funding and much more. Of all the benefits that pathways can provide for a community, the most obvious are recreation and social. A growing urban population with increasing amounts of leisure time, combined with an overall surge in health consciousness, has led to an increasing demand for outdoor activities such as jogging, walking, biking and in-line skating. Encouraging the development and use of alternative modes of transportation can benefit the community as well as the individual. Some benefits are: 1) Safety • Pathways provide people, young and old, a designated space for accessing area destinations. • Pathways create safe alternatives to the school -busing program. • Pathways direct people to safe street crossings. 2) Social • Pathways promote strong neighborhood connections creating a more livable community. • A pathways network can provide access and mobility to users of any age or ability. 3) Econonde • Bicycles and in-line skates, as well as walking, are an affordable and low maintenance alternative to automobile use. • Pathways, because of their size and construction, are less costly to develop and maintain than roadways. • Surveys have indicated that the value of a home goes up an average of 6% as a result of its close proximity to a trail. 4) Transportation • A pathways system provides an increased convenience for non -motorized transportation to access local and regional destinations. • Pathway use, as an alternative, assists in the relief of roadway congestion and frees up parking spaces. • Pathways provide another level of service in the desired multi -modal transportation system by provide connections to transit. City of Roseville Pathway Master Plan Final Review Draft August 2008 Page 5 of 31.