Are there SIDEWALKS where you live?

[AviatorTom]

Poorly Maintained Sidewalk on only one side of the road

I live in a suburb of a large city. Many streets and roads do not have sidewalks. Those that do are rarely on both sides of the road, and are almost always poorly maintained, like the picture. This often forces pedestrians to walk in the road, where cars, trucks and bicycles don't pay attention to them, and act annoyed when they do.

In an era of motor vehicles, pedestrians are treated as second-class citizens.

So, the question is... Are there sidewalks where you live? And are they maintained?

Please vote in the poll below.

I live in the CITY, there are WELL-MAINTAINED sidewalks

I live in the CITY, sidewalks exist but are POORLY MAINTAINED

I live in the CITY, there are only SOME or NO sidewalks

I live OUTSIDE the city, there are WELL-MAINTAINED sidewalks

I live OUTSIDE the city, sidewalks exist but are POORLY MAINTAINED

I live OUTSIDE the city, there are only SOME or NO sidewalks

SOMETHING ELSE - please tell

Updates

23 d

Always fun and interesting to see how UK and USA are separated by a common language.
In this case, it's pavements vs sidewalks.

[TheRealPepperPotts]

Note to our British friends: In the US, we call these sidewalks, just like we spell the word "colour" color, and call "football" soccer, and have another game we know as football. It's interesting to learn that they are called pavements across the pond though, I didn't know that.

Yes, they are fairly well-maintained. However, the sidewalk in front of each individual house is the homeowner's responsibility to maintain. If someone falls and breaks a hip because our sidewalk has been lifted by roots from a tree that the city planted, guess who is liable? The homeowner. Is it fair? No. Does it make sense? No. But that is the reality. Most people don't know that they are liable for a poorly maintained sidewalk. I think the city should be responsible for safe pedestrian passage just like they are responsible for safe vehicle passage, personally. They have enough money for it.

[purplepoppy]

Oh you mean "pavements" well I live out in the sticks so I have to drive to civilisation along a countryroad. In the urban areas the vast majority have pavements for pedestrians although some are very narrow and you'll have to either step on the road or get very friendly with the person coming the other way. Some places won't have pavements but that's only really very low traffic areas.

There is a "fashion" at the moment to let grass verges grow wild and sow wildflowers. It can look pretty but all too often it just looks like a pile of weeds and just an excuse to neglect maintance. Probably the dumbest idea (we lead the world in dumb shit) is putting "rain gardens" along city streets to soak up the rain. All that happened was they flooded, collected litter, and got driven over a lot

[WindAtMyBack]

Mostly no, but there are some streets that have sidewalks. They are entirely in newish areas, but I'm pretty sure there is no modern city code that requires them. I think it's entirely up to the developer. I don't know if there is a requirement for curbs and storm drains either, but I think most/all new developments have those..

The road right-of-way in my area is 50 feet wide, with a 20 foot wide road. So there is 15 feet on each side to build sidewalks, curbs, etc. It's not even my property, but I still have to mow it, and will get fined if I don't.

[DarkLegacy]

Yes there are and they are called pavements here in the UK which is the correct name for them. There is no maintenance done unless workmen are digging up the pavement to lay cables, or do work on utility pipes or cables. That means where there are paving stones, they are in fact hazardous, particularly towards disabled an old people.

Just as bad as potholes in the road.

[RingOfFire]

I live on an Island in the Northeast. The main roads don't have sidewalks but the neighborhood roads do and they are well maintained. But since it has some of the highest taxes in the country and some of the wealthiest neighborhoods, they better be!

[Twalli]

I mean my place is called a city, but it's not really one, as most people don't know it exists. They know where it is once I explain where I live. We're really just a suburb of St. Louis, but the city and county are different places as they never merged. We have very good sidewalks, but rarely on both sides of the street. Sometimes it changes sides without a way to cross the street.

[RebelinSteel]

In towns n villages they have pavements, here we have dodge the on coming cars as it’s rural, on the plus side it’s flat n straight so you can usually see on coming cars. Saying that I avoid walking along fen roads if I can.

[ArrowheadSW]

Yes sidewalks are definitely in my area. They were just by yesterday to "shave down" the raised portion of the sidewalk that was pushed up by roots of a nearby tree. So yes they are well-maintained here.

[BeetleBro2000]

There are a lot of well-maintained sidewalks. There are also some small segments with no sidewalks at all, and unfortunately one of those is between our house and the bus stop.

[OfMiceandMen]

I live outside the city where there are no sidewalks, but I have a rail-trail a few minutes down the road from me that I can access and go for miles.

[FreyaRed]

In cities and villages everywhere outside cities maybe at 10% of newer roads often combined with bicycle ways

[Lliam]

I live in a rural area. No sidewalks except in nearby towns where they have well maintained sidewalks.

[RetroReviews]

Yes there are sidewalks we even have signs that say sidewalk closed when it's being repaired LOL

[Caroline91]

I live right, at the exact spot Where the Sidewalk Ends!

[Cuminginside]

Sounds like Atlanta

[Caroline91]

@Cuminginside No... It's in my mind... not a real place...

[Cuminginside]

Do you need a therapist for that kind of illusions although art does imitate life

[Caroline91]

@Cuminginside lol... no, I don't need a therapist... my imagination takes me all kinds of places and bc of that, I am never bored! All that would happen with a therapist is that they would most likely become enmeshed in my flights of fancy bc it is soooo hard to resist lololol

[Cuminginside]

Take me with you My job is f****** boring take me

[Caroline91]

@Cuminginside Well, you are welcome cumalong, just not inside lol... What is boring about your job?

[Cuminginside]

90% of the clientele at my clinic r drug addicts And it's a 95% failure rate we are developing software to try to turn around That nasty statistic but it's just a nightmare. If you weren't married I make a move on you but I'm leaving that alone. When I started to study for this field it wasn't this bad Now most of the people bang on your door r people I despise.

[Caroline91]

@Cuminginside I''m sorry, but you are making me laugh... Thanks for respecting my married state, many on this site do not and it makes it difficult to participate sometimes. My husband is on a 6 month overseas assignment at the moment and I am so looking forward to when he is home again. So, your profile says you are 20... is that correct or a typo? What exactly is your non-profit field? It can become impossible to work with people one despises...

[Cuminginside]

trying to develop computers to help people for psychology sessions a lot of people in the military are flunking drug tests and the drugs today are much harder. there are videos on YouTube called soft white underbelly that touch on the issues we deal with. If I would have known earlier that this is all that we are going to do is cater to dopers I would have gone into something else.

[Caroline91]

@Cuminginside So, how old are you?

[sage2021]

Yes but they are old and the city doesn't keep up with maintaining them.

[NathanDavis]

yes... and currently a hazard, under 126F temps

[HawkPerception]

I live in the suburbs as well and there's a ton of sidewalks. The area I live in is well established and maintained.

[electromagnetic]

Yup. I live downtown so there’s foot traffic always.

[exitseven]

I live outside the city. There are nicely maintained sidewalks

[noohair]

I live in Florida. I don't walk anywhere because I would drop dead from the heat. Nothing is in walking distance anyway.

[OtterMan68]

I live in the suburbs and they are mostly well maintained. A few spots were tree roots have uprooted them

[DrPepper12]

Some townships have but the further rural you go the less sidewalks.

[handsomelad70]

Yes, as I live less than a block from one of my city's main thoroughfares.

[RavVid]

We have well maintained pavements