Joni Morgan takes off with her running group on West Lexington Avenue before the sun rises. Before they have one mile under their sneakers the sidewalk ends.

Danville's sidewalks start and stop all around the city. Many neighborhoods have no sidewalks. A light trek to the grocery store, library or church is plausible only for downtown dwellers. There are groups of people who would rather exercise in Wal-Mart than risk walking in the street.

In places where there are sidewalks, runners like Morgan say it is safer to run in the street then risk tripping on a crack.

Where the "cement pops up, you catch your toe and there you go ..." Morgan said.

No paths, disjointed sidewalks and cracked cement are all tell-tale signs of a community that isn't walkable.

More than one-quarter of all the trips made by Americans in their cars are one mile or less, short enough to have been made on foot, according to the Surface Transportation Policy Project.

"If you make the environment more walker-friendly then people will walk," said Roger Trent, director of the Boyle County Health Department.

City policy created Danville's dashed sidewalks and paths. The city didn't require sidewalks for new construction until 1990.

From Indian Hills to Paula Heights, the urban landscape doesn't include neighborhoods with sidewalks. It makes a hop-scotch game nearly impossible and pedestrians have to choose between uneven turf and the street.

Ends on Main near edge of downtown

On Main Street, a few blocks from the edge of the downtown business district, the sidewalk ends. At the end of the street there are a cluster of apartment dwellers, the people the U.S. Department of Transportation reports are the most likely to be on foot.

There are those who like it that way. Mildred Ellis walks six days a week. She and her friend walk in their neighborhood, a loop of streets off Goggin Lane, at 8:15 a.m. when traffic is sparse. There are no sidewalks.

"And we don't want any," Ellis said. "We do not need any." She said a sidewalk would mean extra work and expense, and she doubts many of her neighbors would want to pay for sidewalks.

According to the city engineer's office sidewalks cost about $12 per linear foot to install. When a resident requests sidewalks, the city asks property owners for easements. If the easement is granted, the property owner pays for the sidewalk. If it is not, the city would have to condemn the property to build the sidewalk and then charge the property owner.

Several years ago disputes over easements blocked a request to add sidewalks to Baughman Avenue that would have made it safer for children near Hogsett Elementary to walk to school.

There are grants from the state and federal government that help pay for the construction of sidewalks, but city officials said there are no plans to apply for the money. Some cities, like San Jose, Calif., offer its residents small grants to improve their sidewalks.

City has secured grants, hired consultant

In recent years, the city has secured grant money to improve sidewalks downtown. The City Commission recently hired a consultant for $79,280 to develop a plan for improving downtown streetscape, including sidewalks, on Main, Second and Third streets.

Ernst Crown-Weber, owner of Danville Bike and Footwear and an avid cyclist, said he and others want to start a group discussion about how the city can be more friendly for bicyclists and pedestrians.

"Try to get from Streamland to town," Crown-Weber said.

The kids who live in Bluegrass Estates and Bluegrass Trace would have to cross six lanes of highway-speed traffic to get to Millennium Park by foot or bike. Every day people have to walk in the road to exercise in their own neighborhoods. For now, it looks like the city and its residents are catering more to drivers than those who choose the non-motorized forms of transportation.

Morgan, who has fallen on broken or uneven sidewalks three times in the last eight years, said she and other runners choose to run in the street rather than risk it on the sidewalks or the dirt paths.

"It's gotten really bad ... on Lexington Road where they did the traffic changes ... they had space to put a bike lane in ... (now) the traffic is right next to you."