Sidewalk
[8] "Walkway" is a more comprehensive term that includes stairs, ramps, passageways, and related structures that facilitate the use of a path as well as the sidewalk.
[13] However, by the Middle Ages, narrow roads had reverted to being simultaneously used by pedestrians and wagons without any formal separation between the two categories.
[16] Another turning point was the construction of Paris's Pont Neuf (1578–1606) which set several trends including wide, raised sidewalks separating pedestrians from the road traffic, plus the first Parisian bridge without houses built on it, and its generous width plus elegant, durable design that immediately became popular for promenading at the beginning of the century that saw Paris take its form renowned to this day.
Sidewalks played an important role in transportation, as they provided a path for people to walk along without stepping on horse manure.
[18] Research at the University of North Carolina for the U.S. Department of Transportation found that the presence or absence of a sidewalk and the speed limit are significant factors in the likelihood of a vehicle/pedestrian crash.
The authors wrote that "this should not be interpreted to mean that installing sidewalks would necessarily reduce the likelihood of pedestrian/motor vehicle crashes by 88.2 percent in all situations.
[20] On the other hand, the implementation of schemes which involve the removal of sidewalks, such as shared space schemes, are reported to deliver a dramatic drop in crashes and congestion too, which indicates that a number of other factors, such as the local speed environment, also play an important role in whether sidewalks are necessarily the best local solution for pedestrian safety.
[23] Since residents of neighborhoods with sidewalks are more likely to walk, they tend to have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, obesity, and other health issues related to sedentary lifestyles.
[26]) Contemporary sidewalks are most often made of concrete in North America, while tarmac, asphalt, brick, stone, slab and (increasingly) rubber are more common in Europe.
For example, in Melbourne, Australia, bluestone has been used to pave the sidewalks of the CBD since the Gold rush in the 1850s because it proved to be stronger, more plentiful and easier to work than most other available materials.
In the United States and Canada, the most common type of sidewalk consists of a poured concrete "ribbon", examples of which from as early as the 1860s can be found in good repair in San Francisco, and stamped with the name of the contractor and date of installation.
[28] Today, most sidewalk ribbons are constructed with cross-lying strain-relief grooves placed or sawn at regular intervals, typically 5 feet (1.5 m) apart.
This partitioning, an improvement over the continuous slab ribbon, was patented in 1924 by Arthur Wesley Hall and William Alexander McVay, who wished to minimize damage to the concrete from the effects of tectonic and temperature fluctuations, both of which can crack longer segments.
[29] The technique is not perfect, as freeze-thaw cycles (in cold-winter regions) and tree root growth can eventually result in damage which requires repair.
In urban or inner-city areas sidewalks are most commonly constructed of slabs, stone, or brick depending upon the surrounding street architecture and furniture.
