Sidewalks are an essential part of each community. They allow walking to be our basic form of transportation. Jane Jacobs, author of 'In Life and Death of Great American Cities', comments that streets and roads in our communities "serve many purposes besides carrying vehicles, and sidewalks the pedestrian parts of the streets serve many purposes besides carrying pedestrians" (Chris Eaker, 2008). Jacobs believes that if people think their community "is dangerous place to live, or is a jungle", it is because people of that community do not feel safe and comfortable on the sidewalks (Chris Eaker, 2008). .
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Why do we need sidewalks? The majority of us use streets for walking, jogging, bicycling, or other physical activities. There are people, though, who would say that sidewalks do not carry any significance at all. A national survey of 9,616 adults of pedestrian activity in the nation and the public behavior and attitudes regarding walking was conducted in the summer of 2002 by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (December, 2004). The main objective of this was to determine satisfaction with community design for making walking safe and available. Dissatisfaction with "how the local community is designed for making walking comfortable and safe" is quite low-below 10% - in communities where sidewalks are available. But percent dissatisfied increases to nearly a one-third (32%) when sidewalks are not available. Overall, survey respondents highly favor acquiring more sidewalks. When people were asked what changes they would like to have in their communities, suggestions often mention "more sidewalks" as preferable options. People who say sidewalks are not available in their neighborhoods are twice as likely as people with sidewalks to mention sidewalks as a potential change they would like to see in the residential areas (58% versus 27%) ( Bureau of Transportation Statistics, December, 2004).