Walk Score® and Transit Score® and Walking in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Background Planners have relied on the Urban Development Boundary (UDB)/Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) and Central Business District (CBD) to encourage contiguous urban development and conserve infrastructure. However, no studies have specifically examined the relationship between proximity to the UDB/UGB and CBD and walking behavior. Purpose To examine the relationship between UDB- and CBD-distance and walking in a sample of recent Cuban immigrants, who report little choice in where they live after arrival to the U.S. Methods Data were collected in 2008-2010 from 391 healthy, recent Cuban immigrants recruited and assessed within 90 days of arrival to the U.S. who resided throughout Miami-Dade County FL. Analyses in 2012-2013 examined the relationship between each UDB- and CBD-distance for each participant’s residential address and purposive walking, controlling for key sociodemographics. Follow-up analyses examined whether Walk Score®, a built-environment walkability metric based on distance to amenities such as stores and parks, mediated the relationship between purposive walking and each of UDB- and CBD-distance. Results Each one-mile increase in distance from the UDB corresponded to an 11% increase in the number of minutes of purposive walking, whereas each one-mile increase from the CBD corresponded to a 5% decrease in the amount of purposive walking. Moreover, Walk Score® mediated the relationship between walking and each of UDB- and CBD-distance. Conclusions Given the lack of walking and walkable destinations observed in proximity to the UDB/UGB boundary, a sprawl repair approach could be implemented, which strategically introduces mixed-use zoning to encourage walking throughout the boundary’s zone.

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“…15, 27, 30-32 Reliability and validity are acceptable. 15, 30, 31, 33-36 Participants’ addresses were coded using walkscore.com. 15, 27 …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Walking and Proximity to the Urban Growth Boundary and Central Business District

Brown

Lombard

Toro

et al. 2014

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

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“…Walk Scores ® are then adjusted for street network characteristics so that places with low intersection density (or poor roadway connectivity) and longer block lengths received lower scores. Destinations (i.e., grocery stores, schools, parks, restaurants, and retail), intersection density, and block length each have been associated with walking in other studies (Hirsch et al, 2013). It was hypothesized that the Walk Score ® variable was a marker of potential pedestrian and automobile volume, as indicated in the conceptual model in Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of a community-based pedestrian injury prevention program on driver yielding behavior at marked crosswalks

Sandt¹,

Rodrı́guez

Evenson

et al. 2016

Accident Analysis & Prevention

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TitleEffect of a community-based pedestrian injury prevention program on driver yielding behavior at marked crosswalks a b s t r a c tBackground: Few studies have comprehensively evaluated the effectiveness of multi-faceted interventions intended to improve pedestrian safety. "Watch for Me NC" is a multi-faceted, community-based pedestrian safety program that includes widespread media and public engagement in combination with enhanced law enforcement activities (i.e., police outreach and targeted pedestrian safety operations conducted at marked crosswalks) and low-cost engineering improvements at selected crossings. The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of the law enforcement and engineering improvement components of the program on motor vehicle driver behavior, specifically in terms of increased driver yielding to pedestrians in marked crosswalks. Methods: The study used a pre-post design with a control group, comparing crossing locations receiving enforcement and low-cost engineering treatments (enhanced locations) with locations that did not (standard locations) to examine changes in driver yielding over a 6-month period from 2013 to 2014. A total of 24,941 drivers were observed in 11,817 attempted crossing events at 16 crosswalks in five municipalities that were participating in the program. Observations of real pedestrians attempting to use the crosswalks ("naturalistic" crossing) were supplemented by observations of trained research staff attempting the same crossings following an established protocol ("staged" crossings). Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to model driver yielding rates, accounting for repeated observations at the crossing locations and controlling other factors that affect driver behavior in yielding to pedestrians in marked crosswalks. Results: At crossings that did not receive enhancements (targeted police operations or low-cost engineering improvements), driver yielding rates did not change from before to after the Watch for Me NC program. However, yielding rates improved significantly (between 4 and 7 percentage points on average) at the enhanced locations. This was true for both naturalistic and staged crossings. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that enhanced enforcement and low-cost engineering improvements, as a part of a broader program involving community-based outreach, can increase driver yielding to pedestrians in marked crosswalks. These data are important for the staff and decision-makers involved in pedestrian safety programs to gain a better understanding of the different engineering and behavioral mechanisms that could be used to improve driver yielding rates.

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“…Vários estudos vêm sendo conduzidos com vistas a estabelecer, por um lado, os indicadores que refletem a caminhabilidade e podem ser usados para medi-la (Kelly et al, 2011;Maghelal e Capp, 2011;Hirsch et al, 2013;Wey e Chiu, 2013). Por outro lado, determinar os fatores que expressam as condições que tornam uma área caminhável, favorecendo o andar a pé, bem como investigar a sua correlação com uma divisão modal orientada ao pedestre (Saelens et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Indicadores do desenho urbano e sua relação com a propensão a caminhada

et al. 2014

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Palavras-Chave: viagens a pé, rede de caminhos, desenho urbano, caminhabilidade, teoria dos grafos.Key words: travel on foot, road network, urban design, walkability, graph theory. Recommended Citation AbstractThe propensity of people to travel on foot involves diverse conditions, often categorized by the term walkability. Various studies have been conducted to establish both the factors that influence walkability and the indicators used to measure it. Particular interest has been focused on the built environment, specifically the urban design, represented by the road network. The configuration of this network, its density and connectivity affect the times and continuity of travel on foot as well as the number of alternative routes. Based on a review of the literature and the indexes available in graph theory, we establish the most suitable indicators to represent to urban design, which can be used to investigate the influence of the configuration of the network on people's propensity to travel on foot. Conceptually, indicators based on cycles tend to explain connectivity better. From this review and in exploratory form, we suggest a scale based on easily obtained indicators that express the potential of a given area to favor walking, according to its configuration. This scale can contribute to choice the most suitable areas for establishing trip generation hubs oriented to pedestrians. Rodrigues, A. R. P., Flórez, J. , Frenkel, D. B. and Portugal, L. S. (2014) Indicadores do desenho urbano e sua relação com a propensão a caminhada. Journal of Transport Literature, vol. 8, n. 3, André Ricardo Prazeres Rodrigues*, Josefina Flórez, Denise Beer Frenkel, Licinio da Silva Portugal ResumoA viagem a pé envolve certas condições frequentemente denominadas como caminhabilidade, observando-se vários estudos que buscam estabelecer, não só os fatores que interferem nela como os indicadores usados para medi-la. Um destaque vem sendo dado ao ambiente construído e, em particular, ao desenho urbano, que configura a rede de caminhos. A configuração desta rede, sua densidade e conectividade afetam os tempos, a continuidade dos deslocamentos a pé, bem como o número de itinerários alternativos. A partir da revisão da bibliografia e dos índices disponíveis na Teoria dos Grafos, estabelecem-se os indicadores mais adequados para representar o desenho urbano e para investigar a influência da configuração da rede de caminhos na propensão a caminhada. Conceitualmente, indicadores derivados dos ciclos tendem a melhor explicar a conectividade. Sugere-se ainda, de forma exploratória, uma escala, baseada em indicadores de fácil obtenção, que expresse o potencial de uma dada área favorecer as viagens a pé, de acordo com tal configuração. Essa escala pode contribuir para a escolha de áreas para a implantação de Polos Geradores de Viagens orientados aos pedestres.

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Walk Score® and Transit Score® and Walking in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Cited by 160 publications

References 34 publications

Walking and Proximity to the Urban Growth Boundary and Central Business District

Walking and Proximity to the Urban Growth Boundary and Central Business District

Effect of a community-based pedestrian injury prevention program on driver yielding behavior at marked crosswalks

Indicadores do desenho urbano e sua relação com a propensão a caminhada

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