00743140

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/1578-07

http://scholar.google.com...ilov&publication_year=1997

Whether high or low incidence of pedestrian travel in mixed-use, medium-density environments is due to site design characteristics, and specifically to presence of direct, continuous, and safe pedestrian systems, is examined. Twelve neighborhood centers or sites in the Puget Sound area of Washington were selected by matching gross residential density, median income, automobile ownership, and intensity and type of neighborhood commercial development. Pedestrians and bicyclists were recorded that traveled into the commercial area. A clear break emerges between urban and suburban sites. The average urban pedestrian volume is 37.7 pedestrians per hour per 1,000 residents, which is 3 times higher than the 12.5 pedestrians per hour per 1,000 residents in suburban sites. These results strongly support the hypothesis that, when holding other variables constant, the urban versus suburban difference in route directness and completeness of pedestrian facilities (namely, block size and sidewalk length) affects pedestrian volumes. The research also questions the common belief that people do not walk in the suburbs. Given appropriate land use conditions, pedestrian facility improvement programs in suburban areas can support pedestrian travel and have a significant influence on mode choice.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1578, Pedestrian and Bicycle Research 1997.

English

p. 48-55

1997

Transportation Research Record

0309061687

Figures (1) ; References (18) ; Tables (3)

Case studies; Design; Mode choice; Pedestrian areas; Pedestrian traffic; Structural design; Suburbs

Puget Sound; Puget Sound Region

Design; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

TRIS, TRB

Nov 19 1997 12:00AM

• ANALYSIS OF BICYCLE COMMUTER ROUTES USING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS: IMPLICATIONS FOR BICYCLE PLANNING
• BICYCLE JOURNEY-TO-WORK: TRAVEL BEHAVIOR CHARACTERISTICS AND SPATIAL ATTRIBUTES
• BICYCLIST PERFORMANCE ON A MULTIUSE TRAIL
• EVALUATION OF SHARED-USE FACILITIES FOR BICYCLES AND MOTOR VEHICLES
• IF YOU BUILD THEM, COMMUTERS WILL USE THEM: ASSOCIATION BETWEEN BICYCLE FACILITIES AND BICYCLE COMMUTING
• INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN ON PEDESTRIAN TRAVEL BEHAVIOR IN FOUR AUSTIN NEIGHBORHOODS
• INTEGRATED SYSTEMS METHODOLOGY FOR PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC FLOW ANALYSIS
• PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES ON INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS: CHARACTERISTICS AND COUNTERMEASURES
• PEDESTRIAN IMPEDANCE OF TURNING-MOVEMENT SATURATION FLOW RATES: COMPARISON OF SIMULATION, ANALYTICAL, AND FIELD OBSERVATIONS
• REAL-TIME HUMAN PERCEPTIONS: TOWARD A BICYCLE LEVEL OF SERVICE
• RENEWED COMMITMENT TO TRAFFIC CALMING FOR PEDESTRIAN SAFETY
• SAFETY BENEFITS OF TRAFFIC CALMING
• SKETCH-PLAN METHOD FOR ESTIMATING PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC FOR CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICTS AND SUBURBAN GROWTH CORRIDORS
• SURVEY OF NORTH AMERICAN BICYCLE COMMUTERS: DESIGN AND AGGREGATE RESULTS
• USING AUDITORY PEDESTRIAN SIGNALS TO REDUCE PEDESTRIAN AND VEHICLE CONFLICTS