I think it's worthwhile to actually try hoofing it home from work to see what it's like.

I grew up in San Francisco and had my impressions of what constituted "close" and "far" inside the city. After spending years living in NYC and doing a LOT of walking, I eventually came back to San Francisco for a couple years. I had always thought that my work was "far" from our apartment. Mentally, I couldn't picture myself really trying to walk home because of my previous ideas about distance within the city. But one day, I tried it, and it wasn't bad at all. After that, I tried making it a point to walk home a couple days a week, mostly for exercise, but also to just be comfortable with walking all the way home. What seemed almost crazy before quickly became commonplace.

You may be pleasantly surprised by how do-able walking home could be. The biggest hurdle could just be mental. If something happens and there is gridlock, hoofing it could easily turn out to the be fastest way home. (Have comfortable shoes!) I've had a number of experiences stuck in traffic or trying to use public transit where in hindsight, I just wished that I had walked in that situation.