THE ROLE OF THE STREET ENVIRONMENT IN HOW PEOPLE CROSS ROADS IN URBAN SETTINGS

Street crossing is a critical element of the urban transportation environment, but little research exists that can help answer questions related to pedestrian planning, engineering solutions to pedestrian crossing safety and research methods for modeling street-crossing behavior. This study attempts to fill this gap by modeling the role of the street environment in how people cross roads in urban settings. Respondents were placed in real traffic conditions at the curbside of street blocks in the Tampa Bay area for a three-minute observation of the street environment. Without crossing the blocks, each respondent stated his crossing preference at each of six blocks. The origin and destination of each crossing were hypothetically set and varied across the blocks as were the options available: two options for crossing at an intersection and up to four options for crossing at mid-block locations. Within the framework of discrete-choice models, the stated preferences are explained with the street environment, including traffic conditions, roadway characteristics and signal-control characteristics. All three components of the street environment are considered: mid-block locations, intersections and the roadside environment. This paper describes the survey design and data collection efforts and estimates a nested logit model of pedestrian street-crossing behavior. Findings from the study show that pedestrian street-crossing behavior can be reasonably modeled with indirect factors that can be directly measured in practice. The nested logit model is shown to fit the stated pedestrian street-crossing behavior better than the conditional logit model, and the quasi-stated preference approach appears to be an acceptable alternative to the standard stated-preference approach.

• Record URL:
  http://www.ctre.iastate.edu/pubs/midcon2003/BaltesEnvironment.pdf
• 
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0965231062
• Corporate Authors:

  Iowa State University, Ames

  Center for Transportation Research and Education
  2711 South Loop Drive, Suite 4700
  Ames, IA  United States  50010-8664
• Authors:
  • Baltes, M R
  • Chu, X
  • Guttenplan, M
• Conference:
  • Mid-Continent Transportation Research Symposium
  • Location: Ames, Iowa
  • Date: 2003-8-21 to 2003-8-22
• Publication Date: 2003

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p
• Monograph Title: MID-CONTINENT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM (AMES, IOWA, AUGUST 21-22, 2003). PROCEEDINGS

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Choice models; City planning; Crosswalks; Curbs; Intersections; Logits; Midblock crossings; Pedestrian movement; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian traffic; Pedestrians; Stated preferences; Streets; Surveys; Traffic; Traffic signals; Urban areas; Urban travel
• Geographic Terms: Tampa Bay Area
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00964679
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0965231062
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 8 2003 12:00AM