Measure 'walkability' of your neighborhood

IOWA CITY - I heard about an interesting Web site while covering a meeting last night on the proposed redevelopment of the area south of downtown Iowa City.

It's walkscore.com. Here's a description, taken from the site, about what it does: “Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address based on the distance from your house to nearby amenities. Walk Score measures how easy it is to live a car-lite lifestyle-not how pretty the area is for walking.”

The consultants at the meeting said it was a good resource. Someone else there said downtown Iowa City scores extremely well on the site.

I entered my work address, in the Old Capitol Mall downtown, this morning. It came back with a 98 out of 100 – a “walkers' paradise,” according to the site.

That's not too surprising with all the amenities of downtown so nearby. But it's a good sign for the city's plans for the area south of downtown, which officials want to turn into a dense, walkable, public transit-friendly neighborhood. 

I don't live downtown, though. So I put in my home address, which is near Coralville Central Elementary School, within a block of a bus line, and about a half-mile from the library and S.T. Morrison Park. But it's mostly a residential neighborhood, and it only got a 68, or “somewhat walkable.”

 How does your neighborhood rate?