Americans want to live in communities that are walkable and bikeable.

If we can look outside our front door and see sidewalks and streets with bicycling facilities, then we can choose to go places using "active" transportation.

Walking and bicycling are some of the earliest forms of transportation. They have important health benefits, and they also reduce smog and congestion. And when more people are out walking and bicycling on their neighborhood streets, those communities feel safer.

There are many reasons why people may not walk or bicycle. One of the main reasons is that there are too few streets designed for us to be active during our daily routines. Open your own front door and look outside:

If you answered, "No," to any of those questions, your community can be improved and you can help.

This website can provide you with simple tools to assess the suitability of your local streets for walking and bicycling. With the assessment results you can produce a map. Maps show the assessment data in a way the city officials will notice. We produced this map using GIS (Geographical Information Systems software on a computer). However, even a hand-colored map will work.

A walking and bicycling suitability assessment (WABSA) project is the first step toward making improvements so that everyone can be more physically active in your community.