Be Active! Be Green! Bench Initiative

Planning a path

When planning a ''pathway to health," consider where people live, and where they might be going (destinations). Think about where they may want to walk for physical activity and recreation. You may want create bench routes along a path in a park or lake or to connect:

• Apartments
• Transit stops
• Churches
• Coffee shops, restaurants
• Community centers
• Health care facilities
• Libraries
• Neighborhoods
• Parks
• Retail stores
• Schools
• Senior housing

Use the list above to help plan your route, but keep in mind that your destinations will be site specific. Your goal is to connect people with common destinations or create other opportunities for physical activity. Your route can support walking as a form of transportation or physical activity as a form of recreation. The elderly and people with young children or a disability should be taken into consideration. The benches must meet ADA requirements.

Placing the benches

Once you have a route, you'll also want to consider how to position the benches. Keep in mind the following:

• Comfort and safety are the biggest factors in how much people will use the benches. The space behind a sidewalk (and further from the street) is often in city right-of-way and so the city can site a bench there.
• People feel safer and more relaxed when further away from traffic. Between the sidewalk and street can be too close for comfort.
• Face the bench in the direction of what's interesting to look at, like other people, scenery, architecture, anything that moves or changes, including traffic. A bench placed behind the sidewalk next to buildings facing the street gives seated people the ability to see pedestrians and buildings on both sides of the street.
• Keep the bench away from things that are unpleasant to be near (like fast traffic).
• Must have a legal right to the trail, path, sidewalk, or other right-of-way upon which the benches will be installed. The legal right may be in the form of fee title, permanent recorded easement or lease with a remaining term of no less than 20 years.
• Keep travel zones for pedestrians or vehicles clear.

Other considerations

• Someone sitting on a bench can feel nervous if people are walking directly behind them. It is better to avoid having a bench backing up to a sidewalk unless you can leave a bit of a buffer.
• In an area with a crime problem, consider placing benches near lighting. You can also try to place benches within sight of an occupied building with ground floor windows and doors.
• If a community group or the city is willing to landscape, consider deciduous shade trees, or planted flowers around the bench site.
• Buffers between benches and traffic increase comfort and safety. A row of parked cars, bushes, a grassy boulevard, flowers, raised planters can all form a buffer.