Monday, March 22, 1999
COMMUTING COLUMN
Her tires are walking boots
BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Amy Gallaher's commute is just a dream for most of us. The 24-year-old locks her house door in the morning, drops the keys into her green backpack and heads for the sidewalk.
No need to start the car.
She walks to work, and just about anywhere else she needs to go.
“I can go to the post office, locksmith and butcher and be home in 20 minutes,” Ms. Gallaher said.
Suburbanites can spend that much time waiting to make a left turn out of their subdivision.
“I can be to work in 41/2 minutes,” she says.
On this blustery March morning, Ms. Gallaher is dressed for the weather as she starts her commute to work — blue jeans and a pair of low-cut, tan Nike walking boots. Her hair is neatly tied back.
She leaves her Over-the-Rhine house on Spring Street. Heads west toward her favorite neighborhood bakery, Shadeau Breads on Main Street. She grabs a cup of steaming coffee and a pastry and continues on her way.
“Traffic” is light for Ms. Gallaher.
As she heads north to Liberty Street, a few “don't walk” lights slow her down. But once on Liberty, she enjoys wide, spacious sidewalks. Walking the stretch between Main Street and Gilbert Avenue, the only pedestrian she encounters is a man with a small dog in his arms.
On the street though, car traffic backs up behind the stoplight at Liberty and Gilbert. “I've watched cars sit at that intersection from the time I leave work to the time I get home without hardly moving,” Ms. Gallaher notes.
That's not her idea of how the day should be spent.
She figures that she'd have a lot less time for friends, family or curling up with a good book if she had a typical commute.
Here's the way she calculates it:
She'd spend 40 minutes driving to work and 40 minutes back.
That adds up to an hour and 20 minutes a day.
Which adds up to more than 61/2 hours a week.
Multiply that by 50 weeks (figuring in two weeks of vacation time) and that's 330-plus hours a year.
That's more than 131/2 days annually she'd be spending in her car.
“I'm glad to not have that lifestyle,” says Ms. Gallaher, one of the 3 percent of Greater Cincinnatians who walk to work.
After joining her for her morning commute, I wish I could ditch my car and join that percent.
In addition to having more free time, she and other walkers save money.
They help the environment because their cars aren't spewing pollutants.
And instead of getting to work frazzled from traffic tie-ups, they get there with a clear head and a few minutes of exercise to burn off some breakfast calories.
As Ms. Gallaher approaches Gilbert Avenue, she veers right. She waits for a few cars to turn and walks south on Gilbert to 12th Street.
She turns the corner and stands in front of an old stone building that once housed Fire Co. 42. It now houses three companies, including her own Gallaher Multimedia Studio.
“We're here,” Ms. Gallaher says. She's ready to go to work just 15 minutes after leaving the house — and that included the trip to the bakery.
“I have time to do the things that give my life value. And that's not sitting in the car to go to the post office.”
“Commuting” column appears each Monday in the Metro section. Contact her at 768-8389; fax: 768-8340; mail at 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202 or by e-mail at tmalbert@enquirer.com
Shed a tear for a sneezer and his beezer
Fort Washington Way to narrow
Dad gets OK to be at prison birth
Fernald finishes 'safe shutdown' phase
Fight over tobacco money begins
Cincinnati schools might ask 6-mill levy
Walnut Hills cracks down on prom wear
Cincinnati may approve charter school policy tonight
Kasich tries to drum up support in New Hampshire
Tigerlilies take long road back
Her tires are walking boots
She pieced together quilt of love
Blue note ends season for UK fans
Fort Wright might rein pets
Free parking possible for High Street
Jobless rate just 3.4% in Warren
Kenton County cities that limit pets
Lots of Oscar laughs, surprises
Man pleads guilty to manslaughter
Mason girls get warm homecoming
Silverton now shows a surplus
Students in transition get answers
TRISTATE DIGEST
