If you want to figure out how walkable the Twin Cities are, then September isn’t the best time for a test.

The Androscoggin Transportation Resource Center is holding eight workshops that will send volunteers into Lewiston and Auburn to determine how friendly the cities are to walkers and bicyclists. It’s a wonderful project that has great potential to find trouble spots in the foot-powered transportation grid.

But judging the walkability in late September misses some of the biggest hurdles pedestrians and cyclists must overcome while trying to navigate sidewalks and city streets. Namely, snow during Maine’s long winters.

As anyone who’s ever tried to walk around after a snowstorm – sometimes even weeks later – can tell you, walkers are often forced into the streets because sidewalks aren’t clear. Access to walkways is limited, and crosswalks can be blocked by accumulated snow and ice. Road plowing often makes things even worse for walkers and leads them into the road, where they have to share an already-crowded space with cars and trucks.

The workshops will teach participants what to look for and educate them on the design elements that make a city foot friendly. Participants will consider new development and whether its design works. After their walking tours, the volunteers will suggest improvements.

We’re not knocking the workshop, and believe it can produce good information. But an evaluation during one of the year’s most temperate – and beautiful – times will miss all the ugliness walkers face during winter.