DEERFIELD — As Diana Schindler and Nicole Graves walked down Sugarloaf Street on a day warmer than desired, they stopped to hear what Denise Schwartz had to say on the other side of the roadway.
She pointed out there is no crosswalk linking the sides of Thayer Street and no street sign identifying Thayer.
“That’s really dangerous,” Schindler said.
The three were taking part in a walkability assessment hosted Tuesday by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments in collaboration with the town. About 10 people showed up at the South County Senior Center to volunteer to walk around sections of downtown South Deerfield and evaluate the conditions of sidewalks and and crosswalks. Members of the public heard from Elizabeth Giannini, senior transportation planner at FRCOG, about what to look for before splitting into groups and going for investigative strolls. Giannini defined walkability as safe crossings and smooth walkways maintained year round so people can walk comfortably from place to place. She told volunteers good walkability has health and environmental benefits (because people will walk more and drive less) and told them to be on the lookout for aspects such as crosswalk visibility, tactile warning pads that transition street to sidewalk, and overall walking conditions. After collecting their information, the volunteers returned to the senior center for lunch and to give their assessments.
Schindler, Graves and Schwartz walked down a portion of North Main Street and took Park Street past the Town Common to get to Sugarloaf, jotting notes along the way. They paid careful attention to the sidewalks’ cracks and other imperfections and they discussed ways to beautify the area.
“It’s lovely to have curb, green, sidewalk, green,” Schwartz commented, noting the ratio of sidewalk to grass on the side of the street at one point. Some parts of the sidewalk were cracked and not smooth.
Schindler mentioned the possibility of asking local storefronts to contribute more to sidewalk safety and beautification. Schwartz said she respects that idea but dreads asking more of business owners who are already working tirelessly to be successful and compete with corporate giants and online retailers.
“I will always be on their sides, I really will,” Schwartz said of small businesses.
Schindler, a former town administrator in Orange, attended the assessment as a special projects consultant for Deerfield. Giannini said the volunteers’ assessment will be put into a report provided to Schindler. The workshop was held in support of the Complete Streets Project for Deerfield to tap into state funding. The Complete Streets program provides technical assistance and construction funding to eligible municipalities, according to the state’s website.
Noting the better shade on the other side, Schwartz crossed the street after her group passed the Sugarloaf Street Cemetery. Schindler and Graves joined her once they reached the intersection connecting Crestview Drive and Thayer Street, where they noticed the issues with the start of Thayer, and headed back to the senior center.
At the Town Common, Giannini and senior center Director Christina Johnson could be seen talking with a young woman jogging with a child in a push stroller. Giannini later said they “picked her brain a little bit” and the woman told them she jogs the area regularly and is concerned about what she thinks is poor visibility as she crosses Park Street from the Common.
Back at the senior center, volunteers had sandwiches and seltzer water as they filled out assessment forms and talked about the problems they found. Each assessment form had a rating scale of 1 to 6, with 6 indicating excellent conditions. Nancy and Jerry Paciorek walked Park Street up to Frontier Regional School and Nancy Paciorek gave the walkways a 1 rating. She and Jerry Paciorek said the crosswalks need to be painted and are not handicap friendly. They also said there is no warning sign to indicate a school is ahead.
Gretchen May was one of the people who walked Elm Street to the new Cumberland Farms location that has yet to open and returned to the senior center. She gave a 2 rating. She mentioned walkability and pedestrian safety are important to her because her sister spent a summer in traction in the 1950s after being struck by a car in Holyoke while on the side of a road walking home.