Protect pedestrians and bikes from cars -- an op-ed from the NY Daily News

[PamNY]

I don't think it's urban specific at all. I see the same phenomenon in small to medium sized towns. Non-motorized traffic is even rarer in smaller towns, and there are far fewer facilities for them. Most of the businesses in the town nearest me are accessible on foot only by trudging through ditches, around walls, and across five lanes of traffic without a crosswalk. I wouldn't even consider riding a bike on that street, and I'm about as committed and unfazed by traffic as vehicular cyclists get.

You're right -- I was thinking of the extreme crowding in Central Park. But the problem of auto-centric design is the same regardless of population size/density.

When my late mother went through a long illness (she lived in Tennessee) I wanted to walk to the hospital or the grocery store for stress relief and exercise -- it was only 1-1.5 miles But it was difficult because of the ditches, walls, etc as you mentioned. I wouldn't even contemplate cycling the same road I was trying to walk.