I walked to work today, as I do about once per week.* It takes me around 40 minutes, a nice head-clearing trip. The first 10 minutes are on the shoulder/ditch of a busy road that I wouldn’t let my 10 year old walk along, but I am comfortable doing it (Cornwallis road between Old Erwin and 15-501 in Durham, N.C.). The rest of the walk is on a nice wooded trail and then across Duke’s campus.
The odd thing is that 3 people whom I knew stopped and asked me if I needed a ride today as I walked. This was very nice of them, but it seems to show that purposefully walking to work is largely unimaginable. All of them asked as I was on the busy road, so maybe if there were a proper walking trail or even bike lane it would have seemed more normal. Something is wrong with this story, probably including my reason below for why I don’t walk to work more often.
*the reason I don’t walk to work more often is related to off campus lunch appointments and what I have to do at the end of the day, namely drive numerous carpools to various sporting practices for my three kids just as work is ending. The carpool issue is really the binding constraint.
