Pedestrian Level-of-Service Model for Urban Arterial Facilities with Sidewalks

Abstract

This paper documents a study sponsored by the Florida Department of Transportation to develop a level-of-service (LOS) model that represents pedestrians’ perceptions of how well urban arterials with sidewalks (a combination of roadway segments and intersections) meet their needs. The model incorporates traffic volumes on the adjacent roadway and exposure (i.e., crossing widths) at conflict points with intersections and driveways. Data were obtained from Walk for Science, an innovative field data collection event, and consist of participants’ perceptions of how well urban arterials with sidewalks meet their needs as pedestrians. The pedestrian LOS model for roadway facilities described here is based on Pearson correlation analyses and stepwise regression modeling of about 500 combined real-time perceptions (observations) from pedestrians walking a course along streets in a typical U.S. metropolitan urban area. Study participants represented a cross section of age, gender, walking experience, and residency. Although further hypothesis testing may be conducted in a future study, the resulting general model for the pedestrian LOS of urban arterials with sidewalks has a high correlation coefficient (R² = .70) with the average observations and is transferable to a significant number of metropolitan areas in the United States. The study reveals that traffic volumes on the adjacent roadway and the density of conflict points along the facility are the primary factors in the LOS model for pedestrians traveling along urban arterials with sidewalks.

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