Community: Making a Healthy Town

July 22, 2009— -- How do you make the layout of a town healthier for its residents? That's the question AARP and city officials in Albert Lea, Minn., had to tackle after the town won its bid to become the Vitality Project's test city.

Albert Lea city manager Victoria Simonsen knew that most of the decisions to lead healthier lives would fall on the individuals, but she also knew that the very design of the town could promote and encourage healthy living.

"We thought it was absolutely a great opportunity to enable, actually empower our residents to take more control of their health in a fun way," Simonsen told "Good Morning America" as a walking group of townspeople powered along past her window.

To give such groups room to walk meant a massive, city-wide makeover.

Probably the biggest change the town itself underwent was the addition of connecting sidewalks throughout town as well as a five-mile-long walking path around one of the city's main lakes.

Before the renovations, if someone in town wanted to walk to nearly anywhere else, they would have to walk on the street or across a field to get there. But now, a sprawling system of sidewalks connect just about every part of the town, allowing people convenient access to a little healthy exercise just to get around town.

The most visible change is the five-mile loop around the city's main lake, said Simonsen, whose office overlooks the trail.

"It's a great thing? you just get to see everything going on and enjoy each other," she said. "It's just exciting."