If we got more exercise, we’d be healthier.

But for most of us, exercise is inconvenient. So it makes sense to come up with ways to add walking or biking to our daily lives.

There’s no better way to do that, says the Kansas Public Health Assn., than to make sidewalks and bicycle lanes standard features in neighborhoods throughout the state’s larger communities.

“We have designed our communities in ways that have virtually eliminated walking and bicycling as means of transportation,” said KPHA executive director Elaine Schwartz.

These designs, Schwartz said, have contributed to increased rates of obesity and childhood asthma.

“Healthy communities for our children are on the verge of being engineered out of existence,” she said.

At a rally today at the Statehouse, KPHA will urge the state’s political leaders to begin the processes for promoting public transportation, bicycle paths and sidewalks and more parks.

The concept isn’t new to Lawrence city officials. Here:

¢ The city is close to approving new subdivision regulations that would require new neighborhoods have sidewalks on both sides of the street.

Pedestrians dance over puddles as they pass a rain-soaked alleyway Thursday in downtown Lawrence. The Kansas Public Health Assn. is trying to get state leaders to actively promote public transportation, bicycle paths, sidewalks and more parks.

¢ New arterial streets will be required to have sidewalks and bicycle lanes, complementing those already in place. And more are in the planning stages.

The city has a seven-member Bicycle Advisory Committee.

¢ Officials have applied for a Kansas Department of Transportation grant for connecting abandoned railroad tracks in east Lawrence to the city’s existing trail system.

“Lawrence has been pretty pro-biking, pro-walking for a long time,” said Bill Ahrens, transportation planner for the City of Lawrence.

But there’s room for improvement, said Kimber Richter, an associate professor in preventive medicine at Kansas University Medical Center. She and her husband live in Lecompton but spend a lot of time in Lawrence.

“I play adult soccer, which is a wonderful exercise,” Richter said. “But I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been kicked off to make room for someone else. There’s a real undersupply of sports fields in Lawrence for children and adults.”

The shortage is the focus of a grass-roots effort to put together a plan for building and financing a multifaceted sports complex.

Last month, a parents group, Partners for Lawrence Athletics and Youth, coaxed city, county and school district officials into establishing a $50,000 fund for planning and design. A proposal is expected later this summer.

“There’s a huge, huge need for this,” Richter said.

Also, school officials next month will unveil the district’s new wellness policy.

“It will focus on nutrition, education and an emphasis on regular exercise,” said Deputy Supt. Bruce Passman.

The policy is in response to a federal mandate, he said.