The influence of pedestrian plans on walk commuting in US municipalities

Abstract

A growing number of government entities have formalized their interest in making pedestrian activity more attractive by adopting a comprehensive pedestrian plan, but little is known as to whether these plans result in positive outcomes. This paper empirically examines the impact of pedestrian plans on pedestrian activity using a 13-year panel of commuting data from large US municipalities. The findings demonstrate that, while there is no significant change in walk commuting after the initial publication of a pedestrian plan, modest but statistically significant increases occur after a plan receives regular updates.