Missing Links: How Social Paths Can Improve Pedestrian Accessibility to Light Rail
In the past several decades, planners and policy makers have focused on creating more balanced transportation systems that included better transit service as well as improved options for pedestrians and bicyclists. Pedestrian accessibility is vital to the success of this mode because transit users are likely to walk on at least one end of their trip. As a result, practitioners have focused on improving pedestrian environments in station areas. Pedestrian accessibility studies have focused on formal pedestrian links such as roads, sidewalks, and multiuse trails. However, a small but important body of literature suggests that the informal pedestrian environments play an important but often overlooked role in pedestrian accessibility. Social paths are informal routes that emerge in grassy areas because of footfall. Social paths have formed at numerous suburban transit stops and show deficiencies in the design of formal pedestrian networks. Because current travel behavior studies omit informal pedestrian networks, their results may be inaccurate and result in misguided policy. This study identified social paths at 12 light rail stations in Denver, Colorado, and Dallas, Texas. With two pedestrian accessibility metrics, the formal pedestrian environment was compared with a joint formal–informal pedestrian environment that includes social paths. This study makes the argument that social paths are important components of station-area pedestrian accessibility and should be incorporated into future travel behavior studies and pedestrian improvement projects.
- Record URL:
- Summary URL:
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/170369.aspx
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Authors:
- Gallagher, Patrick
- Marshall, Wesley
- Atkinson-Palombo, Carol
- Publication Date: 2013
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Print
- Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
- Pagination: pp 59–65
- Monograph Title: Pedestrians 2013
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Serial:
- Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
- Issue Number: 2393
- Publisher: Transportation Research Board
- ISSN: 0361-1981
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Accessibility; Light rail transit; Pedestrians; Rail transit stations; Travel behavior; Walking; Walkways
- Uncontrolled Terms: Social paths
- Subject Areas: Design; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01473366
- Record Type: Publication
- ISBN: 9780309287173
- Report/Paper Numbers: 13-1799
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Feb 21 2013 9:10AM