- June 7th, 2013
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WalkPittsburgh is here!
On Friday, May 10, 2013 the three Southwestern Pennsylvania Transportation Management Associations – Airport Corridor Transportation Association (ACTA), Oakland Transportation Management Association (OTMA) and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership TMA (PDP) &ndsah; jointly launched WalkPittsburgh.org, a web-based initiative which aims to reduce the region's carbon footprint, encourage individuals to stay healthy, and promote safe walking as a commuting alternative.
The fun and easy program allows users to participate by visiting WalkPittsburgh.org to create a user name and password and choose the neighborhood in which they currently reside and/or work. Once registered, participants are able to keep track of steps taken by downloading a free app that turns the user’s iPhone or Android Smartphone into a pedometer which count steps, tracks progress, and uploads the information (identifying you only by neighborhood) to WalkPittsburgh.org. Each time a participant signs in to WalkPittsburgh.org they can see their own private walking profile page, view and compare the progress of surrounding neighborhoods, and see how many gallons of gas has been saved by walking.
While many areas in the city of Pittsburgh are already walkable, some suburban areas lack pedestrian amenities like sidewalks. The WalkPittsburgh.org website includes a Safety and Hazards section which will enable communities to report neighborhood conditions providing the opportunity to help improve the walking infrastructure. As excitement for WalkPittsburgh continues to grow, the program continues to gain corporate and neighborhood sponsors, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is the Presenting Sponsor, GNC is the Event’s Sponsor, and the University of Pittsburgh is a Participating Sponsor. WalkPittsburgh was also funded through CMAQ.
With the recent announcement of the Surgeon General’s “Call to Action on Walking”- highlights the benefit of walking; it’s an ideal time to develop a "walking habit," so get your walking shoes ready, log on to WalkPittsburgh.org, and register for free today!
