It was the same old-same old Tuesday as I walked to work. Cars turning into my path. Crosswalks that you'd think would exist that didn't. Pedestrian signals that, no matter how many times you pressed the button, just kept showing you the big red hand.

As I've written previously, the experience of occasionally walking the 4.2 miles from home to downtown Charlotte has been eye-opening about the challenges pedestrians face here, even in areas like the one I walk through that are lucky enough to have sidewalks, crosswalks and pedestrian signals. (And, I might add, enough shade to make a morning walk reasonably pleasant even on a day heading for the mid-90s.)

So what better pretext could I need to put in a call to Charlotte's new pedestrian program manager, Malisa Mccreedy? She replaces Vivian Coleman, who moves to another planning slot at Charlotte's Department of Transportation.

Mccreedy, on the job seven weeks, was working for national walkability guru Dan Burden, but until recently had lived and worked many years in Orlando. Coincidentally, this month, a new national report from Transportation for America used a "pedestrian danger index" and found the most dangerous U.S. metro region for pedestrians was ... Orlando.

For 2000 to 2009, the central Florida city and its four-county area averaged 3 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people. To compare, the Charlotte region, ranked No. 17 in pedestrian danger, averaged 1.4 pedestrian deaths per 100,000. Raleigh-Cary, at No. 12, averaged 1.7 deaths.

As someone who regularly has to leap aside from - or wave my arms frantically at - drivers pulling right in front of me or turning into me without seeming to notice that a person is walking along the sidewalk, those numbers seem miraculously low.

To be fair to Orlando, most Sun Belt cities that grew dramatically in the past 40 years are all in the same fix, with six-lane thoroughfares and oceanic intersections, few sidewalks or other pedestrian comforts, and neighborhoods built to keep cars, not pedestrians, happy. Charlotte is no exception.

"Why Charlotte?" I asked her.

"Everyone's kind of got their eye on Charlotte for walkability," she said, adding, "There's a momentum here that's incredible."

Hard as it may be for people here who are trudging down goat paths in the grass to get to a bus stop, the city under transportation director Danny Pleasant and his predecessor Jim Humphrey has won a strong national reputation for planning and policies friendly to pedestrians and cyclists.

That doesn't mean, though, that all is seashells and balloons for people on foot - and some 30 percent of the U.S. population doesn't drive. This includes kids and young teens, elderly who no longer drive, people with disabilities, those who don't want to or can't afford to own a car, and others who just prefer not to.

Mccreedy is one. She hasn't owned a car in two years. She walks or bikes to work from a Dilworth condo that's in easy distance of two grocery stores and other neighborhood amenities.

I figured this was a good time to mention to her some pedestrian lights that seemed to be broken at Kings Drive and Morehead Street, where foot traffic has grown since a new greenway opened nearby.

Unfortunately, the city is unlikely to notice broken lights unless people report them. You can do so, and report broken or otherwise impassable sidewalks, and request sidewalks for your neighborhood, by calling 311 or going to the city's website, charmeck.org.

Goodbye time nears

Word is getting around, so it's time for me to announce that June 17 will mark the end of my career at The Charlotte Observer.

I'll write more about this later, but the newspaper in a recent round of layoffs offered a small group of staffers a buyout, and I took it. I'm looking forward to changes - of pace and focus - and to new adventures in our shifting landscape of journalism and information delivery.

Until mid-June I'll be around and reachable at the usual email address and phone number.