A recently published nationwide survey confirms what many

A recently published nationwide survey confirms what many planners have suspected: The majority of Americans would prefer to walk more and drive less, if only their environment could be made safer and more convenient for pedestrians.

• Asked if, circumstances permitting, they would walk more for exercise and errands, 66 percent responded positively while only 41 percent expressed a preference for staying behind the wheel.

• Two-thirds voiced support for federal funding to create safer walking conditions, even if it means less funding for roads.

• And still more — 84 percent — favored reduced speed limits and other measures to slow and better control traffic in residential areas.

• Only 25 percent saw new roads as the best long-term solution to traffic reduction, while 66 percent endorsed other alternatives, predominantly improved public transit and pedestrian-friendly community design.

The survey — whose error margin was plus-or-minus 3.5 percent — was sponsored by the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP), a Washington, DC-based coalition of 800 advocacy groups devoted to improved transportation. The study’s bottom line, according to STPP president Anne P. Canby: Americans “want and understand the need for walkable communities and public transit as a better solution to address traffic congestion than simply building more roads. There needs to be a better mix, and we’re not achieving that mix today.”