Health and Wellness

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.

Studies show that people will walk, run and ride their bicycles more if a trail 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 trail 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 physcial activity.