Would Property Values Go Up if Norbeck Road was More Walkable?

 Could Norbeck Road ever be like this in the future?

If a pedestrian and bike path was built on Norbeck Road, would it enhance property values in nearby neighborhoods?

There's economic proof according to Sarah Gaventa, Director of CABE Space in the U.K.  Her organization conducted a study titled "Does Money Grow on Trees" and found that walkability was shown to increase property values and attract investment.

The CABE developed a scale to rate pedestrian-friendliness called the Pedestrian Environment Rating System (PERS).  For every point on the PERS scale, neighborhoods saw a 5.2 percent increase in residential prices and a 4.9 percent increase in retail rent.  The economic advantages of walkability should convince SHA to spend more time and money on upgrading roads that lack sidewalks and bike paths to make them safer and better connected to neighborhoods, schools, recreational parks, shopping destinations, etc.  .

According to Chris Leinberger, a land-use strategist at the Brookings Institution, the solution is to fill that demand for pedestrian-centric space by transforming outlying areas, primarily suburbs like our Norbeck Road community, into walkable environments.  It's already happened in the Washington D.C. metro area, where 70 percent of walkable areas are outside the city core.

Washington D.C. has the greatest amount of walkable urban places per capita in the country, Leinberger said.  In contrast, New York's metropolitan area, with its car-oriented suburbs and exurbs, comes in at tenth.  By building up these new walkable places, we could jumpstart pedestrian and transit-oriented projects to give a major boost to our recession-weary economy and depressed property values over the next few decades.

Having more walkable places also makes sense on a personal and financial level.  According to Leinberger's data, car-centric suburban households spend anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of their income on transportation, whereas urban households spend only about nine percent.  That extra money can go into savings or to paying off the costs of housing, taxes, schooling, health care, travel, culture, entertainment, and discretionary expenses, all of which would enhance our quality of life.

This is another reason to demand that SHA build a pedestrian-bike path, preferably on both sides of Norbeck Road to ensure maximum safety and connectivity for all pedestrians and bicyclists, including children, teenagers, the elderly, and persons with disabilities who live on both sides of Norbeck Road.

Please call Jeremy Beck at 410-545-8518 (Office) or e-mail him at jbeck@sha.state.md.us to demand that SHA make this pedestrian and bike path on Norbeck Road a reality within the next few years.