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8—7 Orange County Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan CHAPTER 8 - Economic, Health and Environmental Impacts of Parks and Recreation 8 work, or community destinations. The Orange County Community Health Assessment found that during the period 2005-2009, 5.4% and 1.6% of county residents walked or biked to work, respec- tively.25 In Chapel Hill, 11.2% of commuters walked and in Carrboro, 3.0% walked to work. This suggests a much lower percentage of walking and cycling as active transport to desired destinations in rural Orange County, due in large part to the higher density and greater transportation infrastructure in the municipalities. Connecting parks and recreation facilities with community efforts to increase the walkability and bikeability of Orange County will help residents’ use their everyday travel to achieve their regular physical activity milestones using time they already need to devote to reaching destinations. The following are local examples of the gaps in access for Orange County residents. First, there is only one free, public swimming pool—the A.D. Clark Pool located at the Hargraves Community Center in Chapel Hill, which operates only from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Second, despite the abundance of parks in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Hillsborough vicinities, there is insufficient recreational space or athletic sports fields in the rural parts of the county, particularly in the southeast and northern areas. Thus, the rural populations do not have access to as many free recreational spaces as urbanites. While rural populations may have an abundance of beauti- ful open spaces they may lack accessibility to formal recreation areas. This lack of recreational opportu- nities in the northern and southwest regions of Orange County was identified in the 2011 Community Health Assessment. Therefore, residents without the financial means to pay for unsubsidized recreation have to use free recreation opportunities, which may be difficult to access depending on their location in the county. Furthermore, most of the community centers and exercise facilities that offer physical activity classes in the county require payment, isolating indigent members of the population who may need more group encouragement to partake in physical activity. Finally, gaps in recreation access are further compounded by lack of private and public transpor- tation. They are limited to opportunities reachable by public transportation or personal means like walking or biking. For rural residents, public transport access to parks is, for the most part, infea- sible. As one way to operationalize access, consider that 3,400 Orange County households do not have access to vehicles, with roughly 3,000 of them farther than one mile from a bus stop (which are primarily located near Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough).25 This issue of access also highlights the increased national emphasis on incorporating parks and recreation areas into broader community changes to facilitate active transport to school, 91