New Pedestrian Modeling Tools: Growing Beyond the Portland Region

There have been important advances in non-motorized planning tools in recent years, including the development of the MoPeD pedestrian demand model led by Kelly Clifton of Portland State University. This tool and others are increasingly requested by governments and agencies seeking to increase walking activity and create more walkable places. To date, the MoPeD tool has been piloted with success in the Portland region using data unique to Metro, the metropolitan planning organization. However, there is increasing interest from planning agencies in adapting the pedestrian modeling tools and their inputs for use in their own jurisdictions. Unfortunately, other regions often do not have uniform access to the same kinds of pedestrian environment data as Metro, particularly at such a fine-grained scale.