Boston Ranked Third Most Walkable City in the U.S.
Do you feel a sudden urge to lace up your sneakers? To forgo the T in favor of a nice, healthy walk? To stroll through a park and feel the sun upon your face? Perhaps that’s because Walk Score, an offshoot of Redfin, just ranked Boston the third most walkable city in the U.S.
The list was based on factors like available walking routes; pedestrian friendliness; number of nearby amenities and distance to those resources; city population; and neighborhood boundaries. Walk Score analyzed data from 2,500 U.S. cities to arrive at the 50 most walkable list.
Boston’s overall Walk Score came in at 80.1, trailing New York’s 89 and San Francisco’s 86. We can’t say for sure, but the perils of crossing Massachusetts Avenue at rush hour may be responsible for some of those 20 lost points.
While a maze of one-way streets and maddeningly illogical traffic patterns likely dragged down our pedestrian friendliness score, we’re undeniably lucky to have resources such as the Esplanade, the Southwest Corridor Parkway, and the Greenway, which make it easy to traverse the city on foot.
Hey, just ask poor Colorado Springs—it finished 50th, with a walk score of only 35.
