Young bicyclists cross Main Street at Concord Road. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Davidson is being held up again for exemplifying the ideal of “livability” in a small town. An advocacy group called Transportation for America has picked Davidson as one of 12 case studies demonstrating that livability can exist in suburbia and beyond.

Transportation for America says it is a “broad coalition of housing, business, environmental, public health, transportation, equitable development, and other organizations.” Its goal is to push for improvements in our nation’s transportation system, which it says is “incomplete and threatened.”

The case study on Davidson quotes town economic development director (formerly planning director) Kris Krider as saying that the town’s goal was “connecting each new housing or commercial development with travel options and broadening the definition of how people move.”

“Sitting in traffic is not one of the themes of livability that we think is valuable,” Mr. Krider told the Transportation for America researchers. “It could be a walking path. It could be bike paths. Connectivity is not just streets, it’s connecting people.”

Davidson is among a dozen communities being profiled in the series. Others include
the state of North Dakota; Meridian, Miss.; Lancaster, Pa.; Breckenridge, Colo.; Laconia, N.H.; Cache Valley, Utah; Menominee Indian Reservation, Wisc.; and Huron, S.D.

LINKS

Transportation for America case study on Davidson, “Livability in small towns No. 5: Davidson, North Carolina.”

Here’s the introduction to the series, “Livability in rural and small town America.”