The Downtown Greenway will support public and private efforts to improve health and wellness in our community. As reported in 1996 in Physical Activity and Health, A Report of the Surgeon General, “people of all ages can improve the quality of their lives through a lifelong practice of moderate physical activity. A regular, preferably daily, regimen of at least 30-45 minutes of brisk walking, bicycling . . . will reduce your risks of developing coronary heart disease, hypertension, colon cancer and diabetes…” Donna Shalala, former Secretary of Health and Human Services, said of the report, “This watershed report comes not a moment too soon. We have found that 60 percent – well over half – of Americans are not regularly active. Worse yet, 25 percent of Americans are not active at all. For young people, the future of our country, physical activity declines dramatically during adolescence. These are dangerous trends. We need to turn them around quickly, for the health of our citizens and our country.” To see this full report, click here.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has released a DRAFT Statewide Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan (WalkBikeNC Plan) which is available for public review and input. Read about the plan and give your input online!
NCDOT is accepting public comments on the plan until April 30, 2013. Please use this online comment form to provide feedback.
For more information, visit this NCDOT page.
Studies show that people will walk, run and ride their bicycles more if a greenway is located within a convenient distance of their homes. Creating an easy, safe and aesthetically pleasing means by which to exercise and travel via foot or bicycle has been successful in other communities in promoting and encouraging greenway use. As mentioned before, this Greenway will circle downtown and will touch, or come very close to, many neighborhoods, providing critical access to citizens.
Click here to learn more about development and public health.
Click here to see an abstract on the associations between perceived neighborhood characteristics, access to places for activity, and leisure-time physical activity.
Click here to see the video on how the Downtown Greenway can contribute to a healthier lifestyle.
The “Green” in Greenway:
The City of Greensboro is testing stormwater tree wells on the newly constructed section of the Downtown Greenway on West Smith Street at Greenway at Fisher Park Apartments. The tree wells will improve water quality by filtering and cleaning rainwater run-off through specially constructed soil in the tree well.
For more information on this ‘green’ stormwater treatment system, click here to view the recent article in the News & Record.