Bloomington named state’s ‘best walking city’

Twenty-four years ago, Mike Lorton graduated from IU. After retiring, he decided to come back to Bloomington with his wife. One of the main reasons, he said, was because of the ease of walking in the city. \n“We just like to walk around the campus and see the city,” he said.\nLorton is one of many people who frequently enjoy walking in Bloomington, which was recently named Indiana’s Best Walking City by the health magazine Prevention. \nBloomington ranked highest among Indiana’s 10 most populous cities. Evansville and Muncie rounded out the top three, and Indianapolis came in fifth. \nBloomington received the top honor because of its high percentage of people who walk to work – which ranks eighth nationally – as well as the number of people who use public transportation, which Prevention called “typical rankings for towns with large college campuses.” \nGraduate student Katherine Wiley is originally from New York and said the national ranking is surprising.\n“I definitely think there is a stereotype of Indiana as being not very active,” Wiley said.\nWiley said she bikes almost everywhere from her apartment and has only had to fill up her gas tank once this semester.\nLorton lives near Lake Monroe and said he comes into the city about four times a week. From his experience in the city, he identified different walking environments in Bloomington. He said Bloomington consists of the campus, the Kirkwood area with a lot of stores, students and tourists’ and the downtown square with more locals.\nAccording to Prevention, one of Bloomington’s weaknesses is its low density of parks, but Lorton said he believed this isn’t a big deterrent.\n“The reality is land is at a premium,” Lorton said. “I think Bloomington has done a pretty good job of allocating green space and satisfying the needs of the community for growth.” \nKriste Lindberg, a member of the Bloomington Environmental Commission, said she hopes the city’s new greenway system, which will help connect the parks and add more walking-friendly trails, will encourage even more Bloomington residents to start walking. \n“With these good examples, more will get on the bandwagon and do we can do more collectively,” she said.