The Relative Circuity of Walkable and Drivable Urban Street Networks

Circuity, the ratio of network distances to straight-line distances, is an important measure of urban street network structure and transportation efficiency. Circuity results from a circulation network’s configuration, planning, and underlying terrain. In turn, it impacts how humans use urban space for settlement and travel. Although past research has examined overall street network circuity, researchers have not studied the relative circuity of walkable versus drivable circulation networks. To address this gap, this study uses OpenStreetMap data to explore relative network circuity. The authors download walkable and drivable networks for 40 US cities using the OSMnx software, which they then use to simulate two million routes and analyze circuity to characterize network structure. They find that walking networks tend to allow for more direct trips than driving networks do in most cities: average driving circuity exceeds average walking circuity in all but four of the cities that exhibit statistically significant differences between network types. The authors discuss various reasons for this phenomenon, illustrated with case studies. Network circuity also varies substantially between different types of places. These findings underscore the value of using network-based distances rather than straight-line distances when studying urban travel and access. They also suggest the importance of differentiating between walkable and drivable circulation networks when modeling and characterizing urban street networks: although different modes’ networks overlap in any given city, their relative structure and performance vary in most cities.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADB30 Standing Committee on Transportation Network Modeling.
• Authors:
  • Boeing, Geoff
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 16p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accessibility; Case studies; Networks; Streets; Walkability
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01658319
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-02866
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 29 2018 10:24AM