NORFOLK, Neb. -- It’s a way to enhance public safety. 

“We're just getting some feedback from individuals as we walk around,” Anna Allen said, Assistant City Engineer.

A volunteer-based group of citizens took part in an audit walk in Norfolk on Wednesday. 

“Can a kid navigate this world in a safe way?” Whitney Porn said, walk audit participant. “And are there any impediments to them getting to their destination? Anything that could cause them to go out into traffic in an unsafe way?”

“We're doing a walk audit,” Allen said. “We're here on 13th and Norfolk Avenue, so we're going to take a group of people we're going to walk the surrounding blocks; ends up being about a mile.

The group had walked around Norfolk and Park Avenue between 12th and 14th Streets for nearly an hour, taking notes as they went.

“We're hoping to identify locations around town for innovation interventions as well as systematic changes to our transportation system here in town,” Allen said.

The idea of a walk audit is to enhance public and pedestrian safety. With covered sidewalks, hidden street signs and even potentially dangerous items left out in yards, all pose a risk. 

“If they're not safe arriving to school, if someone's not safe arriving to the drug store or the grocery store, we've got to make accommodations to ensure that they're safe,” Porn said. 

The public input immediately gets brought up to the city planning, where they can plan to make improvements to the sidewalks and crosswalks of Norfolk. 

“It seems like a lot of infrastructure was based on a smaller town years ago, when I was growing up as a kid, when things were maybe a little bit slower pace,” Porn said. “So whatever we can do to increase safety with the current times.”