[pm90]

Texan cities are all very car friendly and pedestrian unfriendly. It is just not possible to get anywhere without a car, and people will look at you strangely even if you walk down to the grocery store a mile away or so. One fine Houston morning, my friends and I decided to walk down to the strip mall for lunch after a night out; the sidewalks were unmaintained and cracking, but also... we were the only ones walking! It was quite a shock to me to see that, especially since the roads were chock full of traffic.

[lgregg]

The suburb (south Houston suburban city) my mom lives in has a token sidewalk for people to run or walk their dogs. That's literally 90-95% of the type of uses I see there minus one guy I see every once and awhile who looks like he's going to or coming from work. It's pretty sad.

I do get one thing, it is really hot in Houston, so I think that plays a lot into the mentality of cars vs walking, at least there.

[post_break]

It doesn't help that it's 100F with 100% humidity.

[jimmaswell]

You say a mile like it's nothing. That's 20 minutes at an average walking speed vs 2-3 minutes at most by car.