If you’re looking for a walkabout from home to grocery store then Ohio in general and Northeast Ohio in particular is not your likely mode of transportation.

WWW.walkscore.com has rated cities throughout the United States as to how favorable they are for walking beyond just for exercise. That would include opportunities to walk for shopping.

Ohio does not fare well.

In the 90 and above ranking (“Walker’s Paradise”), no Ohio community earned this distinction.

Neither did any Ohio community collect the “Very Walkable” status with a score of 70 to 89.

The best that any Ohio community could do was Lakewood’s score of 68.

Remaining are the “Somewhat Walkable” score of 50 to 69, “Car-dependent I” score of 25 to 49, and also - again - Car-dependent II of 0 to 24.

The description for the titles are: Walker’s Paradise - Daily errands do not require a car; Very Walkable - Most errands can be accomplished on foot; Somewhat Walkable - Some amenities within walking distance; Car Dependent I - A few amenities within walking distance; Car-dependent II - Almost all errands require a car.

A look at some area communities and their scores were: Ashtabula (42), Eastlake (39), Euclid (46), Mayfield Heights (54), Mentor (34), Painesville (48), South Euclid (56), Willoughby (42).

The web site does allow a viewer to see what their own home walkable score is. Simply follow the appropriate link at www.walkscore.com/how-it-works.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com