Association between Built Environment attributes and Strava speeds and volumes in the Greater Manchester region

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The Built Environment (BE) along the travel network influences the likelihood of people making short or multimodal trips using active travel (AT) modes (i.e., cycling and walking). The literature shows that BE attributes are significant predictors of AT and are strongly correlated with high cycling volumes. Specifically, they have higher association with AT than socio-demographics, or proximity to central locations and green space. Moreover, their collective relationship with AT use is not additive but complex, since many of them are correlated.Existing literature shows that BE attributes at the same time can contribute to delays, comfort and perceived safety levels. There is scarce evidence whether cycling and walking volumes increase if travel delays are reduced, while comfort level credited to high quality walking or cycling infrastructure is improved.We examined the association between travel delays for cycling and walking, with the presence and type of intersections' traffic signals, street lighting, crime rates and pavement quality. We compared self-reported speeds and volumes from Strava users in Greater Manchester with the MATSim modelled free-flow speeds (function of the network gradient) and volumes. We observed travel delays on the network, with some attributes having positive, while others negative effect on speeds and volumes.