As Nevada observes Pedestrian Safety Month, Sabina Malik is pushing the conversation beyond the Las Vegas 2050 Master Plan’s ambitious goals to focus on the daily realities of residents without cars. Nearly one in five Nevadans lacks reliable access to a vehicle, making pedestrian infrastructure essential for food security, public health and equity. How can city planning ensure that residents who depend on public transit can safely walk to full-service grocery stores and access affordable, nutritious foods?

When we talk about food insecurity, cost and affordability may be the most common themes that come to mind. We may also picture neighborhoods dotted with fast-food chains and convenience stores, miles away from full-service grocery stores that sell fresh produce and affordable groceries.

This image highlights one major factor that affects the ability for individuals and families to access nutritious food — where you live dictates how you’re able to get to the grocery store. The real barrier isn’t just cost but may be the journey itself.

For those without access to a vehicle or with limited transportation options, getting to the grocery store on foot can be a major feat. As we observe National Pedestrian Safety Month, we would be remiss if we didn’t explore exactly what makes the walk to the grocery store so difficult and what impact that journey has on the health of those living in food insecure areas.

In our state, thousands of residents, especially seniors, low-income families and people with disabilities, rely on walking or public transit to reach grocery stores. For them, food access is not just about what's available, but whether they can safely get there. These groups are disproportionately more likely to live in food insecure neighborhoods, where nutritious food is more difficult to reach and afford.

While food availability and store accessibility are common concerns, transportation is often the invisible barrier. How do you get to the closest grocery store if you don’t own a car, or if your bus route isn’t close to a full-service store?

About 8% of homeowners in Nevada do not have access to a vehicle, and another 15% of renters also don’t have access to a car, according to the 2023 U.S. Census. That means for roughly a quarter of Nevadans reliant on public transportation or walking, pedestrian safety becomes critically linked to food access, especially in neighborhoods lacking infrastructure, allowing the summer heat to add another layer of risk.

How can we improve access to nutritious foods to cook at home?

Typically, my office deals with the question: “How can we increase access to nutritious foods to cook at home?” This is the “end” that we often seek, but the system that determines this food access is reliant on our pedestrian infrastructure — roads, crosswalks and sidewalks. This forces us to modify our question to:

“How can we make the journey to access that food safer?” For many Nevadans, a “simple” walk to the grocery store poses health risks even beyond the heat.

Our Extension team in southern Nevada explored what it was like for an elderly grandmother to complete her regular walk to the grocery store. The trip to the store is about one mile and takes about 30 minutes. Her return trip is the same, but then includes groceries, meaning she can only purchase what she can easily carry. Now imagine this journey in the hot summer heat, or add in the challenge of decreased mobility, use of walkers or wheelchairs, lung capacity and vision, and limited access to sun protection, which all increase the risk of injury for residents walking around their neighborhoods.

Power boxes, light poles and telephone poles frequently block the sidewalks and are common obstacles that would impede wheelchairs. Our drivers are also known to stop in the middle of crosswalks and don’t watch for pedestrians as they turn into parking lots. In the summer, temperatures hit over 100 degrees F yet, no shade structures exist between homes and the nearest grocery store.

Our Extension team in Las Vegas used an infrared thermometer to determine the heat of different kinds of materials along her walk: asphalt, concrete, artificial turf and shaded areas.

On a cooler day in the Las Vegas summer when the temperature was 96 degrees Fahrenheit, the asphalt averaged 141 degrees and artificial turf averaged 160 degrees. Concrete, the surface most residents walk on, averaged 124 degrees. For this reason, summer months see an uptick in pavement-related burns.

While the asphalt, concrete and artificial turf exhibited temperatures hotter than the summer air, shaded areas were consistently cooler. Even concrete in the shade of a tree, for example, averaged a cooler 93 degrees F. The materials we use to build our environment are contributing to making our experience even hotter.

Now picture getting through all these barriers, and actually the closest place to get some food for the day, is a convenience store that does not carry ingredients for a nutritious dinner. There are many residences in Nevada that are not within half a mile of a grocery store. For anyone experiencing insufficient income, reduced access to resources or limited mobility, a trip to the grocery store is a lot more strenuous than a box on a to-do list.

While our Nevada summers are getting hotter, we can advocate for compassionate planning for pedestrian safety through drought-tolerant (preferably native) tree shade, building with thoughtful materials that mitigate the heat island effect, pedestrian bridges, shaded benches, complete streets and clearly marked crosswalks. Cooler streets mean safer journeys, and safer journeys make for easier access to food.

About the author

Sabina Malik, assistant professor and state specialist with Extension, also chairs the Southern Nevada Food Council and serves on the Nevada Council on Food Security. Photo by Robert Moore.