Like a lot of US cities, Denver has a dearth of decent sidewalks. According to an analysis last year, the city is missing 300 miles of pedestrian pathways; of the 2,300 miles that do exist, around 30% are too narrow and an unknown proportion are in disrepair, making them treacherous to negotiate.

Sidewalks are the unsung but essential infrastructure of millions of mundane daily journeys. But they tend to be chronically neglected — especially in neighborhoods whose residents rely on them most.

Denver is seeking to change that. Last month, the Mile High City began to fully fund and maintain its entire sidewalk network, taking over from private citizens. Most property owners will pay a $150 fee for sidewalks per year; a small minority with more than 230 linear square feet facing the street will pay $3.50 per additional square foot. The goal is to build and improve more than 1,000 miles of pavement within a decade. “It’s the largest city in the country that’s made this move,” said Michael Pollack, a professor at Cardozo School of Law in New York City who is writing a book about sidewalks. “It’s a really important step — one that I’d like to see more municipalities adopt.”

Who Should Pay to Fix the Sidewalk?
Denver has made sidewalk upkeep a public responsibility, becoming the largest US municipality to fund and maintain this critical but unsung pedestrian infrastructure.
By David Zipper