01472424

Component

This study seeks to advance current methods to measure walkability by relating detailed non-motorized infrastructure data with walking behavior in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Walking distances were estimated using an innovative approach that involved spatially referencing trip location data from a travel diary and calculating shortest distance along a pedestrian network that incorporates both street and off-street pedestrian path data. Results indicate that when controlling for individual and household socio-demographic characteristics, pedestrians walk approximately the same average daily distance, regardless of their home neighborhood walkability. By explicitly examining both walking trips and distances as outcomes, it was possible to consider trade-offs between number of trips and distance walked, by neighborhood walkability. However, individuals living in more walkable neighborhoods are both more likely to walk at least once and engage in more walking trips than those in less walkable neighborhoods. These findings support the notion that increased accessibility reduces trip distances by bringing origins and destinations closer together. The findings from this study can help to inform design standards as part of neighborhood definitions and distance thresholds to destinations to support walking.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF10 Pedestrians.

01470560

13-3976

English

14p

2013

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Accessibility; Land use; Neighborhoods; Pedestrian areas; Pedestrians; Walking; Walking distance

Waterloo (Canada)

Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-3976

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 5 2013 12:46PM