The Effects of Transportation Corridor Features on Driver and Pedestrian Behavior and on Community Economic Vitality: Final Study Report

This report presents the results from a multiyear effort to develop and test performance measures for evaluating the impact of landscaping and roadside features on pedestrian and bicyclist safety and mobility and economic vitality for Caltrans’ urban arterial network. The first phase of the study was a literature review, and the second phase focused on developing performance measures. The third and fourth phases focused on testing the proposed performance measures consisting of an infrastructure analysis, policy review, safety analysis and a pedestrian and bicyclist intercept survey on two urban corridors in California. The results of the fieldwork indicate that the majority of the proposed performance measures are valid and ready for adoption by Caltrans. The remainder of the measures require additional testing to produce conclusive results. The study also revealed that drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users all request similar roadside design features to improve their perceptions of traffic safety, suggesting that transportation agencies maybe able to target a few specific improvements for maximum benefit to all user groups. Finally, the study found that the cities with the most developed pedestrian and bicyclist policies and plans seemed to have commensurate pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure on the ground, suggesting that the policies and plans have a tangible impact on eventual development.