On any given day, dozens of Orlando residents and visitors can be seen walking or jogging around Lake Eola, but in a new study rating the nation's 30 largest metropolitan areas based on how easy they are to get around on foot, the City Beautiful ranks dead last.
The study, called "Foot Traffic Ahead," was released Tuesday by the George Washington University School of Business, and argues that the ability to easily walk around a community affects citizens' health, productivity and quality of life.
The news is not all bad for Orlando. Experts did find a couple of pockets in Central Florida that were highly walkable, like Winter Park and downtown Orlando, including the aforementioned Lake Eola.
And even though Orlando ranks last now, the study projects the City Beautiful will jump from No. 30 up to 18 in the next four years — still with "low potential for future walkable urbanism," as the study puts it, but at the cusp of that bottom tier, instead of in the basement.
As for the top three most walkable metro areas in America, they are:
- Washington, D.C.
- New York
- Boston
Elsewhere in Florida, Miami ranked 23rd out of 30, but soars to No. 4 in the study's future projections.
Similarly, Tampa ranks 28th now, but is expected to round out the top 10 in the near future.
America's most and least walkable cities
Source: "Foot Traffic Ahead," George Washington University School of Business
View Full Report: Full Traffic Ahead (PDF)