Desire lines in snow

One of my favorite blogs Price Tags recently posted an item from Darren Proulx who has been looking at the desire lines created by cars in the snow to show where space is being wasted and could be reclaimed as sidewalks and pedestrian islands in the middle of crossings. 

On a recent New Rochelle walks we found one of our own. 

While this may not look very dramatic, a pedestrian desire line can also be seen and this corner is at the point where Wilmot Road splits, where cars are travelling at speed and pedestrians have a hard time staying safe.  So any additional pedestrian space would be welcomed.  Below are a few shots of a couple of women we saw walking along the edge of Wilmot Road and yes, this is a bus route.  The first photo on the left shows the space they had to walk along and the image below that includes the side we were walking on which was extremely muddy so neither side was a great option.  

This particular walk took in part of North Road, Wilmot Road, Weaver Street and Quaker Ridge. We had decided to knock off a few arterials at a time we hoped people were indoors gearing up for the Super Bowl (we were wrong) and it was one of the most unpleasant walks we've had. These are busy roads with bus routes and schools so WHY are they so poorly designed for pedestrians?

And to make matters worse we found a number of places where large stones have been placed on the berm probably to discourage cars from parking but an absolute nightmare for pedestrians.  We were left wondering just how much of these strips is owned by the city and where the actual property boundaries are.  Could some of these be reclaimed for pedestrian space?  Perhaps the city could spread wood chips to provide mud free walking if it won't make pedestrian safety enough of a priority to formalize sidewalks.