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Walkability Efforts

Kimball Working to Create Safer, More Accessible Opportunities For Walking and Biking

Creating access to exercise opportunities through trail access, safer streets and sidewalk conditions, and deterring speeding in residential areas are key steps to making Kimball more walkable and bikeable.

"We'd like to see our citizens improve their health, fitness, and quality of life through daily physical activity," said Kerry Ferguson, KHS Director of Community Relations. "Active living is a key strategy Kimball Health Services has been committed to through their hospital Community Health Improvement Plan."

This work aligns with the Kimball Area Foundation Fund's vision, "The Trail to a Better Community." A community trail was added in 2018 providing a beautiful, traffic-free area for walking, running, and biking. The committee looks forward to trail upgrades in 2019.

Top priorities from a recent assessment of the ability to walk and bike around the community show the need to add sidewalks, trails, and bikes lanes. The Kimball Active Living Advisory Committee will put strategies in place for the community to benefit for years to come.

Activate Scottsbluff-Gering-Terrytown

Living an active life is a personal choice, but it’s a choice that is highly influenced by such things as community infrastructure. In recent surveys, both the Baby Boomer and Millennial generations showed a preference for living in communities that are comfortable for walking and biking.

The Scottsbluff, Gering, and Terrytown city councils have each committed through resolution the formation of the Tri-City Active Living Advisory Committee. The committee was designed to create and improve communication links and resource sharing ? between and within citizens and government.

“We are excited to have a diverse committee meeting on a regular basis to provide continuous feedback on projects that will ultimately impact the public’s ability to safely walk or bike around the community,” said Annie Folck, City Planner with the City of Gering.

The committee will not dictate policy; rather, it will serve as a resource and a liaison to assist active living projects or programs. If interested in committee meetings or staying up on the communications, contact Janelle Visser at jvisser@pphd.ne.gov or join the Tri-City Active Living Advisory Committee Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=tri-city%20active%20living%20advisory%20committee.

 

Activate Sidney

Picture it! Sidney Nebraska identified a desire of residents to live in a community that prioritizes walking, biking, and overall health. With this increasing population of younger families, it has become critical that community leaders figure out how to ensure their city Masterplan includes walking and biking (normally not included in a planning process that prioritizes the car).

Thanks to support from the CDC through the Nebraska Walkable communities Project, they’ve begun a planning process, where 25+ participants joined together in October 2015 to create their community-driven plan to increase walking, biking, and overall health within Sidney. The Surgeon General’s Call-to-action has created a platform to illustrate how Sidney is positioning itself to be at the front of activity in this area, and the plans created with community support compliment the drivers within the national push.

Building on this momentum, the Sidney Walkable Communities Leadership team has:

  • Become more formalized (with city adoption) as the Sidney Active Living Advisory Committee, helping ensure the city’s planning process includes representation from walking and biking advocates;
  • Created a revised trail map and new trail signage to help people who walk and bike better understand and utilize the existing trail network;
  • Created other opportunities to promote walking and biking to residents by building partnerships with existing events around the communities (like health fairs, chamber presentations, engaging businesses, and National Walk at Lunch Day); and,
  • Hosted a state-wide complete streets training (June 2016) designed to teach people the concepts, the value, and how to talk about the policy benefits with a variety of constituents.

“This is just the beginning of our work as our next focus is looking at changing policies,” says Jessica Davies, Assistant Health Director of the Panhandle Public Health District and the primary lead for the project. “Using the community-driven process to create our action plans has positioned us for success that engages a variety of community leaders and stakeholders and thanks to the Surgeon General’s call-to-action, we are able to help position Sidney to lead the way in helping our country increase the number of people walking.”

Stay tuned to #WalkNE for future successes from this leading community helping to increase walking for Sidney residents and across Nebraska as a whole.

 

To learn more about the walkablity efforts happening across the Panhandle.

Contact Jessica Davies jdavies@pphd.org
308-487-3600 ext 101

Updated: August 16, 2018