Pedestrian Location Identification Tools: Identifying Suburban Areas with Potentially High Latent Demand for Pedestrian Travel

Abstract

Planning tools were developed for local and state agencies to identify locations with latent demand for pedestrian travel that are currently underserved with pedestrian infrastructure. Prior research in the Puget Sound showed that approximately 20% of the suburban population lives in dense, compact areas with latent demand for pedestrian travel. The tools are designed to enable agencies to target capital investments in nonmotorized infrastructure to areas with the highest potential for pedestrian trips. They are a first step toward delineating suburban pedestrian zones. After a review of existing methodologies to identify areas with pedestrian travel demand, two tools were developed that use geographic information system software. One tool benefits from highresolution parcel-level data with specified land use attributes. The other tool, however, relies on commonly available census block data and aerial photography. It is more labor intensive than the first tool and requires familiarity with reading urban form and development patterns. The tools identify locations with potential for pedestrian travel based on two attributes. First, the locations contain land uses that are functionally complementary, that is, commonly linked by travel. The land uses are dense residential development (travel generators) and retail areas and schools (travel attractors). Second, these land uses are also spatially complementary, that is, sufficiently close to each other to be linked by walking.