Measuring Pedestrians Perceptions of Walkability ( breakout presentation )

Abstract

Research Background Sidewalk asset management is one of the key means of promoting active recreational and utilitarian travel. Encouraging active travel reduces congestion and promotes physical fitness and healthy lifestyles. To promote active travel, municipalities should make educated design and maintenance decisions regarding their investment into their sidewalk infrastructure. These decisions are supported by understanding and quantifying both the number and severity of sidewalk distresses and understanding which design features promote walking behaviour. Existing studies typically capture the physical and geographical features of a segment of sidewalk and compare these features to observed/reported walking behaviour or expert ratings. These studies do not explicitly capture the trade-offs that pedestrians make when selecting between a set of sidewalks. Research Aim This research aims to bridge the gap between the understanding of walkability from the perspective of transportation and asset management professionals and walkability from the perspective of pedestrians. This research captures the explicit trade-offs pedestrians make when selecting a segment of sidewalk to walk along. This micro level of understanding will allow transportation and walkability professionals to gain deeper insights into prioritizing infrastructure maintenance and improvements at a granular level. Method and Results This research proposes the use of a stated preference survey. Stated preference surveys are commonly used in the transportation and marketing fields as means of understanding the impact of the addition of different features which are not present in the real world. Practically, stated preference surveys present a set of alternatives to a survey respondent and ask the respondent to either rank the alternatives or select their preferred choice. These selections are then statistically analyzed using a discrete choice framework. This analysis uses the attributes of each alternative to determine how these attributes influence the preferences of the respondents. The results of this statistical analysis are then used to prioritize maintenance investment decisions. Conclusion This work will improve the understanding of how pedestrians perceive their walking environment. This information is collected using a stated preference survey and discrete choice analysis. Once collected, this information will assist municipalities in prioritizing both maintenance and investment into their sidewalk infrastructure.