The Northfield Middle School participated in Walk to School Day last Wednesday, October 3. Organizers counted 123 walkers in the morning out of a student population that numbers over 900.

The weather was splendid that day, particularly in the afternoon, as you can tell from the photos above and below.

The event was organized by the Task Force on Nonmotorized Transportation, on which I serve as chair, in cooperation with the Northfield Public Schools. I participated on the day of the event as well, monitoring one of the designated routes in the morning and surveying things more generally in the afternoon.

In the morning I was struck by this impression as I rode my bike to my post at Truman Park: so many cars! I was on the lookout for walkers and bikers, but there were very few in the area I was in. The commuters were on their way to work or school, and the car was the overwhelming transportation mode of choice. When I got to the Park I did see some people out for an early morning walk, and two students walked through talking on their cell phones, but my park post was clearly the quietest of the Walk to School routes.

It shouldn’t be surprising that people largely get around in cars here, but when you sit and watch it and are roughly tallying people’s transportation choices, it really sinks in: the car is king.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 10:08 am and is filed under Biking/Walking, Minnesota, Northfield.