01515312

Component

Multimodal transportation is encouraged in recreational areas, particularly non-motorized modes that provide people with the opportunity to be physically active while sustaining the natural environment. Accessibility is an important indicator of transportation performance, because it addresses how transportation solutions are tailored to their contexts; however performance measures related to accessibility are rarely addressed in the literature. This study develops an accessibility measurement framework for pedestrians and bicyclists in parks and recreation areas, and applies it to the recreational area in Mill Creek Canyon, Utah. Data collection, mapping of potential origins and destinations, and proposed accessibility measurements were performed using on-site visits, Google Earth and ArcGIS. Pedestrian and bicyclists requirements for path width, speed, and acceptable travel time were adopted from existing transportation policies and guidelines. The analyzed results showed that accessibility for bicyclists is higher than the overall pedestrian access, and the potential need for improved trail connectivity. Destinations that are too densely spaced in recreational areas are likely to result in increase of vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT), noise, and emissions through an area. Accessibility criteria used in urban environments are not directly applicable to recreational areas, so additional research is needed to determine the exact values of proposed measures that would indicate good or poor accessibility for non-motorized modes. Decision makers could further use these measures to properly evaluate quality of service for pedestrians and bicyclists, as they are broadly applicable to recreation areas of different sizes and flexible enough to grow into accessibility guidelines with further research expansion.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADA40 Transportation Needs of National Parks and Public Lands. Alternate title: Quantifying Accessibility of Nonmotorized Transportation Modes in Recreational Areas: Case Study of Mill Creek Canyon, Utah

01503729

14-2213

English

21p

2014

Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Accessibility; Case studies; Cyclists; Geographic information systems; Metrics (Quantitative assessment); Noise; Nonmotorized transportation; Pedestrians; Performance measurement; Pollutants; Quality of service; Recreational facilities; Vehicle miles of travel

Google Earth

Mill Creek Canyon (Utah)

Environment; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; I15: Environment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2014 Paper #14-2213

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 27 2014 2:47PM