Montgomery Road’s walkability is handcuffing Norwood

Can you believe how much Oakley has changed in recent years?

Have you seen all of the development happening in Pleasant Ridge?

Why is Norwood missing out on all this?

These are regular comments I hear in real life and/or read on Facebook. Why is Norwood missing out on all this prosperity that seems to be going around? While I don’t have a magic bullet, I would sum up one of Norwood’s major challenges in a word: Walkability.

But, Jon, Norwood is very walkable!

For a long time, I didn’t understand why people insisted that Norwood is so walkable, but recently it hit me. When they talk about walkability, they’re talking about our walkable residential districts, which, to be fair, are delightful.

But, in contrasts to our neighborhood streets, when I complain about Norwood’s pedestrian unfriendliness, I am talking about our business district — Montgomery Road.

I would even go as far as to say that Montgomery Road’s un-walkability is a primary reason for the corridor’s decline and our lack of economic vitality. Let me explain.

Let’s do an experiment

To decide once and for all if Montgomery Road really does have a problem, or if I’m just hallucinating, I decided to gather data from several locations on Sunday afternoon, June 30th. For this experiment, I posted up in three different places during off-peak hours to understand how much foot traffic they got.

I wanted to pick two spots in Norwood — one commercial and one residential — and then a spot in Oakley, for comparison. What I found was equal parts staggering and unsurprising.

To keep things “fair”, I decided where to go based on two criteria: a public library and a pub, which both neighborhoods had in close proximity on their major thoroughfares.

Oakley Square (2:26pm – 3:26pm)

As you probably know, Oakley has seen a dramatic increase in home prices and economic activity over the past decade. To scout out the scene, I set up shop at the Oak Tavern, which is immediately adjacent to the Oakley Library (which was closed, but still is a good proxy for the center of town). Looking directly across the street, counting both my side of the road and the far side, I tallied 113 pedestrians and two bicyclists over the course of the hour. This included people coming and going to the bar, but only if they crossed right in front of me (walking east). If they exited to the bar to the left, and didn’t pass me, they didn’t get counted.

Norwood business district (3:44pm – 4:44pm)

Like Oakley, the highest-rated bar in Norwood according to Yelp (Gordo’s) is located right by the library. During the course of my hour there, I counted everybody who passed in front of me, on the library side, and everyone across the street who exited Gordo’s heading south. During the course of the hour, I counted 27 “pedestrians” and two bicyclists. I use quotes there because 16 of those “pedestrians” walked out of Gordo’s, crossed in front of the marker needed to get counted and then got in a car in the parking lot. If you take those people out of the count, I tallied 11 “true pedestrians” — 10% of what Oakley had.

To be clear, there were people in Oakley who parked on the street and walked from there, but proportionately, that number was much lower.

And if you want to make the case that Xavier students being on summer vacation is dragging down Norwood’s count, I would entertain that to a degree. But this location is about a 15-minute walk north of University Station, so I don’t know how many people make it that far on foot.

Norwood residential district (5:06pm – 6:06pm)

Last but not least, was the count I took at the corner of Floral and Williams in South Norwood. Hat tip to Jason Provins for hanging out with me on his front porch while I counted. The results: 13 pedestrians, three bicyclists.

So what?

For as much as people huff and puff about how they wish Montgomery Road could return to being a cute main street, I’ve heard relatively little discussion about how to actually accomplish that. First, we need to understand what we’re looking at.

Montgomery Road, where I did my experiment, measures 50 feet wide, with 10-foot-wide sidewalks on both sides of the road.

By comparison, Madison Road in Oakley, measures 60 feet wide, with the same 10-foot sidewalks on both sides. So what gives?

The difference is how Madison Road is set up. Although the road is wider, there is on-street parking on both sides, which creates a buffer between pedestrians and fast-moving vehicles. Because of that buffer, and the “bump outs” to reduce the distance a pedestrian has to walk to cross the street, the whole set up is much more walkable.

I also find it interesting that this stretch of Madison Road doesn’t bother with a middle turn lane like Norwood, which seems like a more efficient use of their pavement. Not to mention the income they generate from on-street parking. Seems like Norwood could benefit from additional revenue from parking meters.

By contrast, walking on Montgomery Road means walking a few feet from fast-moving traffic with no buffer in between — there’s no peace of mind. To walk on Montgomery Road means to be on high-alert. It’s stressful.

By contrast, let’s revisit the picture from Oakley Square where you can see the buffer that the parked vehicles provide. Heck… the buffer even makes us feel safe enough to sit on the patio right on Madison Road. Is there anywhere on Montgomery Road that you would feel comfortable sitting outside for a meal? (That’s a sincere question. I’m new, so I don’t know all the places, but I can’t readily think of one, except University Station, which was clearly designed with pedestrians in mind))

Alas, we arrive at our chicken-or-the-egg conundrum of “will opening new businesses on Montgomery Road attract more pedestrians, or will more pedestrians make Montgomery Road a more attractive place for businesses?”

I don’t know the answer, but I would suspect that having 10x more pedestrians on Oakley Square has made it much easier for those local businesses to gain traction, which in turn has driven up demand for housing. I’d be excited to see Norwood be more in demand.