Manchester gets “Walk your City” signs

Jason Heinrich and Austin Pomorski putting up a sign on Sunday, pointing to the shared use trail. Photo courtesy of Jason Heinrich.

Sunday afternoon, DDA member Jason Heinrich who headed up the project, and volunteers Ruth VanBogelen, Michael Pomorski and his son Austin put up “Walk Your City” (WYC) signs on posts and poles along the Village’s main thoroughfares. The signs were purchased using 2017 Community Tourism Action Plan funds from the Washtenaw County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Heinrich explained the purpose of the signs. “Implementation of the WYC campaign will provide pedestrian signage that show distance, in minutes, to everyday amenities. These campaigns encourage more active transportation choices, making communities healthier, safer, and more vibrant.”

The signs tell how far it is from the sign to a destination people are likely to be headed in minutes of walking time and an arrow pointing in the correct direction. They also include a code that can be scanned with a smartphone to display a walking map. The signs are different colors based on the type of destination; for example shopping, recreation, etc.

Heinrich explained that this project has a few main goals. Goals for the signs themselves include: 1. Encourage walking/healthier lifestyle. 2. Raise awareness of how close things actually are and how walkable our village is. For example, he stated, “most people don’t realize it’s only 1.5 miles from Carr park to the library.” 3. Highlight various features of the community that are underutilized. 4. Educate and navigate visitors or new community members to key locations and resources. In addition to the goals of the signs, the project itself had the goals of bringing various community members together working and communicating and increasing the number of people interested in leading and/or volunteering on future community projects.

Next time you are headed to the library from downtown, or to Chi Bro Park from Manchester Manor, or Carr Park from the gazebo, think about how close it really is and whether you could just walk it instead of driving!

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.