By DALE JONES

STAFF WRITER

djones@gulfcoastnewspapers.com

Rumor has it that when Bob Seger penned the lyrics, “I remember standing on the corner at midnight, trying to get my courage up,” he was referring to crossing Alabama 59 at the intersection of Beach Road.

As it turns out, he was singing about something else, but in tourist-heavy beach spots like Gulf Shores or Orange Beach, it is not just automobiles that people use to navigate around town, and sometimes the traffic is cause for concern.

Cars, joggers, skateboards, bicycles and scooters are regular modes of transportation, especially during the summer months.

Livable communities are places where people of all ages and abilities have a wide range of travel choices to get safely from point A to point B.

On Nov. 18, AARP and Dan Burden, executive director of Walkable and Livable Communities Institute will present an Active Living Workshop at the Gulf Shores Adult Activity Center.

The goal of the workshop is to bring citizens, elected officials and government staff together to build capacity for livable communities by promoting a shared understanding of how the built environment impacts community health and well being.

Walking audits

As part of the workshop, walking audits will take place including discussions and summaries of the findings. These audits will illustrate how walkability and livability benefits a community and how an active community environment can be achieved.

“He will put on his presentation, and he makes it city specific,” said Gulf Shores Planning and Zoning Director Andy Bauer. “He is a pedestrian transportation specialist.”

Burden’s Walkable Communities organization offers a variety of services to help communities with site plan reviews of walkability, livability, healthy community design, peer reviews of developments and downtown master plans to make them more walkable.

Community groups

Some of their clients include local, state and federal agencies, developers, neighborhood associations, chambers of commerce, planning and engineering consultants and community groups, and they have assisted more than 2,700 neighborhoods, cities and towns.

The workshop at Gulf Shores will begin at 8:30 a.m. and the schedule is as follows:

8:30 a.m. — Participants registration

8:45 a.m. — Workshop: setting the agenda and roundtable discussion

10:15 a.m. — First site: walking audit

11:15 a.m. —  First site: audit discussion and summary

11:30 a.m. — Luncheon and travel to second site

12:30 p.m. —  Second site: walking audit

1:30 p.m. —  Second site: audit discussion ans summary

2 p.m. —  Worshop: presentation, tools and Q&A

3:30  p.m. —  Worshop: conclude

3:45 p.m.  —Discussions with key stakeholders or additional site assessments

6 p.m. —  Community or council presentation

For additional information or to register for the workshop, contact Deidra Lemons at dlemons@aarp.org. Responses are needed by Monday. The Gulf Shores Adult Activity Center is located at 260 Clubhouse Drive.