Trying go anywhere on foot during hot Phoenix summers can be near unbearable and can even cause health incidents. The city is trying to make it a little easier to walk in the summer by making some Phoenix walkways a little shadier.
Phoenix’s heat and shade subcommittee is spearheading a “Cool Corridors” program, that would identify nine mile-long walkways per year on which to plant more trees to provide shade and lower temperatures for pedestrians and bicyclists. The walkways could be a combination of sidewalks along arterial roads, trails or other walkways.
The city’s Streets Department is already asking for $1.5 million for the project that City Council would need to approve in June as part of the 2021-22 fiscal year budget. The new fiscal year starts July 1. The $1.5 million would go towards planting 200 trees per mile-long walkway — 1,800 trees in total. That cost breaks down to $167,000 per mile-long walkway and $833 per tree.
