When looking at the entire neighborhood from a Google map or birds-eye view, the entire area is shaped like a bird or a obscure figure-eight. I live on the ONLY thru street in the entire neighborhood and even calling it such is quite a stretch as it is more of a detour from one side of the eight. There is also a single entry and exit point from the neighborhood. To me, this means an extremely inefficient and non-easily accessible location no matter where your home is located. The streets are roughly 3 car widths wide and are used for dual direction traffic and street parking, but parking is only permitted on one side. The streets are generally curvy, which is generally good for driver awareness of pedestrians and golf course, but like stated earlier, not conducive to easy access for any guests or owners. There is a sidewalk on the "inner" side of the streets that spans the entire neighborhood. The walk though, is roughly 5 feet wide and not comfortable to be used for more than 1 or 2 people walking. The cart paths spanning the golf course are wider but are only laid on the course and not so much integrated with the sidewalk aside from intersections and generally are to be used by golfers only during the season and play.
I walked, biked, ran, and drove around my neighborhood to observe. I gathered a far different experience from all three methods. Driving, I noticed much less of the fine detail and pedestrian activity. I was merely worried about traversing out of the neighborhood and most of my attention was focused on yield and stop traffic signs. Walking, I was able to absorb much of the great scenery and pleasant landscaping that many homes and the course contain. Pedestrian activity was quite high on my walks/bikes especially this time of year. I was aware of the cars and although I felt safe, I would not expect cars to halt for me to cross any of the streets or cart paths. With this, while driving I did not think about stopping for any pedestrians waiting to cross. I find biking to be difficult on the small sidewalks so I generally bike in the street or on the cart paths. Cars tend to yield well to bikers and I was able to take in much of the "natural" scenery and neighborhood similar to walking and running.
Most of my observations were done on a Sunday night around 7:00 pm. The day, and sundown was probably one of, if not the best of the year. The sun sets behind most of the houses as not to be a blinding, scorching nuisance. The temperature was an upper 70 to low 80. There was a slight breeze as well. This led to many grills being lit and dispersing much "cookout aroma" and a lot of pedestrian activity. This is common whenever the weather is tolerable to be outside. Many of the residents enjoy the weather in a similar manner to my family, consisting of walks, runs, rides, cookouts, and spending time on the patio and in the yard. Had it been during the winter, nearly all traffic would be from vehicles and the neighborhood would seem much more silent. Another thing to note, is many people walk their dogs around the streets and on the course. Considering I have lived in my house since it was built, I would like to think I have experienced everything there is to within the neighborhood. I have seen it from every angle, every day, every time, of every year. These observations recently conducted are an accurate sample of my lifetime experience.
My neighborhood has definite boundaries. Until very recent years, it was a neighborhood plopped in the middle of miles of farm fields with a strip of highway running along the south side. The north-south Towanda road runs pretty much through the entire BloNo area and takes you out to the entrance of the golf course and my neighborhood. Signs and a bridge over the highway inform you that you have entered the area. Medians split the main road at this entrance. This main road (body of the bird) runs through the middle of the figure eight and ends the neighborhood at a four way stop perpendicular with one of the most-norht roads, called Northtown road. There are several fingers off the main road before you come to a an intersecting road that enters the two side of the figure eights. The main road and inner facing rows of houses are what really signifies the boundaries. There are also two large ponds (man-made I assume) on either side of the main Towanda road. There is a raised hill that seperates the neighborhood from the apartment complex, and fields/ponds/golf course that separate the area from the rest of the environment.
Like I said earlier, my neighborhood was extremely isolated. It was recently attracted other neighborhoods within a couple miles to the northeast and southwest, an elementary school, a church, and a Casey's General store near the apartment complex. From my house to the single entry/exit/main road just to get out of the neighborhood is about 1 mile (2 minute car/15 minute walk) and 3 miles (7 or so minutes by car) to get to what I would consider the very north edge of "town." This makes it quite a task and nearly possible to get anywhere with meaning and purpose (school, work, store) by any other method than car. I do bike as much as I can given the time constraints of my schedule and weather conditions, but most of my travel is by car. I think the neighborhood blends and flows well with the region as far as natural environment and retention of natural landscape/environment. But in terms of being well integrated and sustainable with the town/city, the area fails quite miserably. With it being so isolated and with certain infrastructure design aspects, it is the opposite of sustainable, green infrastructure. The limited access, limited use, high energy consumption and attribution, generally oversized/underutilized homes spread fairly far apart, large lot sizes, limited use/high waste golf course space, etc. add to its non-sustainability and lack green infrastructure.
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