Pedestrian- and Transit-Friendly Design

There has been a trend toward longer and longer blocks, and correspondingly fewer and fewer intersections within a given area. This practice is not pedestrian-friendly. For a high degree of walkability, block lengths of 300 ft, more or less, are desirable. Blocks of 400 to 500 ft still work well, but as blocks grow to 600 to 800 ft or longer, adjacent blocks become isolated from each other. The old transit industry standard - that transit users will walk a quarter mile, or 5 min at 3 mph, to a bus stop - is better than we might have guessed. Converting reported walk times from the 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey into distances, and plotting and smoothing the resulting frequency curve, the median walking distance to and from transit stops is almost exactly a quarter mile.

[1]  W Patrick Beaton,et al.  ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TRANSPORTATION CONTROL MEASURES: USE OF STATED PREFERENCE MODELS TO PROJECT MODE SPLIT FOR WORK TRIPS , 1992 .

[2]  Cecil D. Elliott,et al.  Designing America: Creating Urban Identity: A Primer on Improving U.S. Cities for a Changing Future Using the Project Approach to the Design and Financing of the Spaces Between Buildings , 1994 .

[3]  R. Kaplan,et al.  The prediction of preference for unfamiliar urban places , 1982 .

[4]  Reid Ewing,et al.  BEYOND DENSITY, MODE CHOICE, AND SINGLE-PURPOSE TRIPS , 1995 .

[5]  M Skene,et al.  TRAFFIC CALMING DO'S AND DON'TS , 1994 .

[6]  Reid Ewing.  Developing Successful New Communities , 1991 .

[7]  RobertF Brown.  FINDING LOST SPACE: THEORIES OF URBAN DESIGN , 1988, Landscape Journal.

[8]  R. Kitamura,et al.  A micro-analysis of land use and travel in five neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area , 1997 .

[9]  Dick Ettema,et al.  Estimating availability effects in travel choice modeling : a stated choice approach , 1992 .

[10]  Kenneth S Opiela,et al.  Planning and Implementing Pedestrian Facilities in Suburban and Developing Rural Areas , 1987 .

[11]  B. Pushkarev.  URBAN SPACE FOR PEDESTRIANS , 1975 .

[12]  C. Michael Walton.  Compendium of Technical Papers, Annual Meeting - Institute of Transportation Engineers , 1983 .

[13]  Reid Ewing,et al.  RESIDENTIAL STREET DESIGN: DO THE BRITISH AND AUSTRALIANS KNOW SOMETHING AMERICANS DO NOT? , 1993 .

[14]  H H Keller.  THREE GENERATIONS OF TRAFFIC CALMING IN THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY , 1989 .

[15]  Prianka N. Seneviratne,et al.  Acceptable Walking Distances in Central Areas , 1985 .

[16]  A. O’Brien,et al.  TRAFFIC CALMING - IDEAS INTO PRACTICE , 1993 .

[17]  Robert Cervero.  RAIL-ORIENTED OFFICE DEVELOPMENT IN CALIFORNIA: HOW SUCCESSFUL? , 1994 .

[18]  L. Frank,et al.  Impacts of Mixed Use and Density on Utilization of Three Modes of Travel: Single-Occupant Vehicle, Transit, and Walking , 1994 .

[19]  T. R. Herzog,et al.  A cognitive analysis of preference for urban nature , 1989 .

[20]  Keller Easterling.  American town plans : a comparative time line , 1993 .

[21]  Robert Cervero,et al.  Transit-Supportive Development in the United States: Experiences and Prospects - eScholarship , 1993 .

[22]  Moshe Livneh,et al.  GEOMETRIC ASPECTS OF TRAFFIC CALMING IN SHARED STREETS , 1993 .

[23]  P. Calthorpe.  The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream , 1993 .

[24]  Gordon K Neilson,et al.  RELATION BETWEEN TRANSIT RIDERSHIP AND WALKING DISTANCES IN A LOW-DENSITY FLORIDA RETIREMENT AREA , 1972 .

[25]  Kent A. Robertson,et al.  The Status of the Pedestrian Mall in American Downtowns , 1990 .