Sidewalks are the edge of public life, shaping how we transfer and join in our on a regular basis lives. However they’re typically ignored and underfunded, resulting in incomplete sidewalk networks or a scarcity of any in any respect. So how can we prioritize sidewalks as demand for walkability grows?
Throughout a current webinar, Michael Pollack, writer of the brand new e-book Sidewalk Nation: The Life and Regulation of America’s Most Missed Useful resource, and Jill Locantore, Govt Director of the Denver Streets Partnership, sat down with Mike McGinn, Govt Director of America Walks, to debate the essential function of sidewalks in our transportation community.
The Very important Function of Sidewalks
“Sidewalks are on the heart of lots of our most important public area debates,” mentioned Michael, a professor on the Benjamin N. Cardozo Faculty of Regulation in New York Metropolis. “The alternatives we make about them contact every part that issues in our lives and civic coverage”—implicating questions of private mobility, commerce, property rights, legislation enforcement, and extra.
In his new e-book Sidewalk Nation: The Life and Regulation of America’s Most Missed Useful resource, Michael explores the significance of sidewalks from quite a few areas of legislation and coverage, and makes the case that sidewalks deserve extra consideration and funding than they have a tendency to get.
Whether or not we notice it or not, sidewalks help our lives as important public sources. They join our communities and are an important thread within the tapestry of social and civic engagement. And there may be stunning demand for sidewalks and “sidewalk life” in locations that don’t have them. In a 2026 Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors survey of two,000 residents in America’s 50 largest metropolitan areas, 89% of respondents mentioned sidewalks and locations to stroll are essential when deciding the place to stay.
However sidewalks are typically taken without any consideration in coverage and legislation. That’s resulting from most municipalities inserting the duty for building and upkeep on adjoining property house owners. Structural, authorized, and monetary constraints additionally make it tough for native governments to coordinate sidewalk administration successfully. Sidewalk work encompasses many departments and companies—departments of transportation, sanitation, public works, shopper affairs, parks, well being, legislation enforcement, security. So most individuals don’t even know the place to start out, and even with the most effective of intentions and plans, needed work can fail to pan out.
In his e-book, Michael proposes two concepts for saving the sidewalk:
Shrink the footprint of personal landowners and have municipalities tackle the burden of duty, as exemplified in cities like Hudson and Ithaca, New York; Louisville, Kentucky; and Denver, Colorado
Consolidate sidewalk duty and oversight inside authorities by making a Division of Sidewalks for coherent, one-stop regulation and upkeep
“Sidewalks are the core of what makes vibrant cities and cities related areas,” mentioned Michael Pollack, “however they want cautious, targeted consideration and well-designed regulation to work for everybody.”
Prioritizing Sidewalks in Denver, Colorado
In 2025, the Metropolis of Denver, Colorado, made headlines with an thrilling new program that shifts the duty for sidewalk building and upkeep from property house owners to the town. This system is the fruits of years of effort spearheaded by Denver Streets Partnership, a grassroots group targeted on designing communities that put folks first.
Dangerous sidewalks have been a citywide downside for a very long time, defined Jill Locantore, who leads Denver Streets Partnership. 40% of Denver’s streets, and 47% in low-income areas, have lacking or substandard sidewalks.
Stress for motion has existed for many years. In 2001, the town adopted a complete land use and transportation plan that acknowledged sidewalks and the pedestrian surroundings because the central system connecting all modes. In 2004, the town adopted a grasp plan that known as for a extra proactive strategy to sidewalk upkeep and dependable funding mechanisms, comparable to a property payment. On the time, the town wasn’t spending any cash on sidewalks, and the duty for upkeep and building rested on adjoining property house owners. However there wasn’t sufficient political will to place the grasp plan’s suggestions into apply.
In 2015, WalkDenver, the predecessor of Denver Streets Partnership, known as on the town and county to make good on their promise of taking up building and upkeep of sidewalks. The trouble was profitable, garnering help and petition signatures that resulted in preliminary wins, together with devoted funding within the annual finances and practically $50 million for brand spanking new sidewalks via a voter-approved normal obligation bond. The town additionally initiated a brand new proactive neighborhood inspection and restore program to alert adjoining property house owners of labor needing to be completed.
The town additionally up to date its pedestrian grasp plan, creating a prioritization scheme for constructing out its sidewalk community. The plan estimated value—and led to the belief that this was a billion-dollar downside and, underneath present funding circumstances, would take over 400 years to finish.
So Denver Streets Partnership reanimated its sidewalk initiative, working with an auditor, who agreed that placing duty on adjoining property house owners for sidewalk building and upkeep had led to unequal entry to sidewalks all through the town and financial hardship for lower-income neighborhoods. However even then, the political willpower wasn’t there.
Lastly, Denver Streets Partnership took the difficulty on to the voters via a citizen-officiated poll measure to enact the Denver Deserves Sidewalks Program, which:
Positioned the duty for building and repairs on the town (as an alternative of residents/enterprise house owners)
Created an annual property payment to create a devoted, everlasting funding supply, and supplied ongoing funding for repairs
Enabled building of an entire sidewalk community to serve each metropolis neighborhood in 9 years
Public help was key to getting the initiative handed. Denver Streets Partnership gathered endorsements from neighborhood associations all the way in which as much as nationwide organizations, in addition to 20,000 signatures to be included on the poll. The measure handed within the 2022 normal election, then was accepted by the Metropolis Council with amendments in 2024, earlier than being carried out on January 1, 2025. As of 2026, the town is constructing new sidewalks!
Rethinking Sidewalks As Public House and Precedence
Throughout the Q&A portion of the webinar, Michael and Jill answered viewers questions starting from snow elimination issues to alternate funding mechanisms for sidewalk networks, particularly if you’re instructed “there’s no cash for sidewalks.”
Discovering new streams of funding is essential, mentioned Michael, however so is reallocating current sources of transportation {dollars}. Denver’s answer was property charges, however there are a lot of others, together with public-private partnerships and leveraging on-street parking income.
Jill acknowledged that the majority transportation funding comes from federal sources, which complicates how they can be utilized for extra native packages. Denver needed to discover a actually citywide answer that didn’t depart any neighborhood behind.
Each panelists spoke on the significance of rethinking sidewalks as public area and precedence, identical to parks and roads. The legislation primarily thinks of sidewalks as an amenity for property house owners, mentioned Michael, not a part of a group’s transportation community.
With regards to extra holistically reframing how we take into consideration the general public realm, Jill mentioned, “We have a tendency to think about transportation as one thing that occurs between the curbs, and that area is for vehicles. Every little thing above the curb is the place we squeeze the remainder of public life.”
Michael sees a spectrum of reform to be made for higher prioritizing sidewalks as a part of the general public realm that intersects with so many different elements of life and pursuits. “Even simply having the dialog about what might we do higher to handle sidewalks particularly, and public area normally, is a good begin.”
This publication was made potential by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) (Contract #47QRAA20D003W). Its contents are solely the duty of the authors and don’t essentially signify the official views of CDC. These efforts are a part of the CDC’s Lively Individuals, Wholesome NationSM Initiative that’s working to assist 27 million Individuals turn out to be extra bodily energetic by 2027.
