BENEFITS OF PEDESTRIAN SEPARATION CAN BE QUANTIFIED

The objective of this research is to identify and develop techniques for quantifying all of the significant direct and indirect benefits associated with the separation of pedestrian and vehicle traffic and to develop a methodology for relating these benefits to the evaluation of proposals for separation. Transportation, safety, social, environmental, health and economic impacts were examined with respect to benefits of pedestrian and vehicle traffic separation. The methodology developed was a unitless scoring systems that combined subjective values reflecting community preferences with objective measurement for 36 variables such as travel time, ease of walking, accident threat concern, effects of air pollution, and residential dislocation. Unitless scoring reduces the need for assigning dollar values to the many non-economic impacts of pedestrian facilities. To ensure that the methodology could be applied to real-life situations, the techniques developed were tested at both existing and proposed pedestrain-vehicle separation facilities. Results of the measurement techniques and methodology indicated a comprehensive and consistent, yet flexible and responsive tool for traffic engineers, planners, developers, architects, evaluators, political decision makers, lobbyists, and community civic groups. In addition, the inclusion and quantification of the many subjective variables reflected the presence of needs and desires within the community that are usually excluded from economic analysis.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsored by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program and the Federal Highway Administration. This report was presented at the AASHTO, 63rd Annual Meeting, October 31, 1977-November 2, 1977, held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
• Corporate Authors:

  Stanford Research Institute

  1611 North Kent Street, Rosslyn Place
  Arlington, VA  United States  22209
• Authors:
  • Braun, R L
• Publication Date: 1977-11

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 12 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Equilibrium methods (Structural analysis); Highway operations; Pedestrians; Planning; Social values; Socioeconomic factors; Traffic; Traffic safety; Urban areas
• Uncontrolled Terms: Traffic segregation
• Old TRIS Terms: Community values; Equilibrium methods (Structural)
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00172367
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NCHRP Proj: 20-10
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 26 1978 12:00AM