Ite 2008 Pp2

Presentation at 2008 ITE Annual Meeting Anaheim, California August 20, 2008 JOSEPH KOTT, AICP, PTP, ITE (M) Senior Transportation Projects Manager, Wilbur Smith Associates, San Francisco, California Doctoral Candidate, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia Former Chief Transportation Official, City of Palo Alto (CA)

Doctoral Dissertation research in progress under supervision of Prof. Jeff Kenworthy and Prof. Peter Newman (authors of Sustainable Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence )
Comprehensive data collection and analysis: pedestrian, bicycle, public transit, and private vehicular modes; land use; socio-economics; “space for nature” (extent of tree canopy and permeable surface in ROW); focus groups, opinion surveys, and visual assessment surveys; comprehensive physical inventory of research study streets and street frontages; street histories, plans, and studies
This presentation covers one aspect of the research : street design/re-design and pedestrians

Matched 1:2 comparison of one re-designed street with two control (not re-designed, but with similarities in function, characteristics)
Two subsets of streets : “Big City Arterials” and “Small City Main Streets”
Street sections range from approximately .3 to .6 miles (.5 to .8 kilometers) in length

RESEARCH STREETS

What are “active” streets and how to measure “activity” on streets?
What are “complete” streets and how to measure their “completeness”
Does dedicated space matter for use of alternative modes of transportation and how to measure the effects?
Does continuous street (building) frontage contribute to “active” streets?
How does the partitioning of ROW space affect street use?
How does allocating “space for nature” affect street use?
How does a street’s aesthetic appeal affect street use?

“ Big City” Commercial Arterials:
King Street/The Embarcadero from 3 rd to Brannan in San Francisco (.56 mi/.9 km/47,000 AADT)
Lombard Street from Broderick to Fillmore in San Francisco (.47 mi/.76 km/41,000 AADT)
The Alameda from Race to Stockton in San Jose (.43 mi./.69 km/16,000 AADT)

“ Small City” Main Streets:
Castro Street in Mountain View, CA from Church to W. Evelyn (.52 mi/.84 km/15,500 AADT)
California Avenue in Palo Alto, CA from El Camino Real to W. Park (.31 mi/.49km/9,700 AADT)
San Carlos Avenue in San Carlos, CA from Cedar to El Camino Real (.35 mi/.56 km/20,000 AADT)

Links I-280 and San Francisco Peninsula to Downtown San Francisco
Site of ATT Park (SF Giants home park) and re-development s in Mission Bay, South Beach districts
Replaced Embarcadero Freeway after it was damaged in 1989; rebuilt as surface boulevard in late 1990s; dedicated on June 17, 2000
Study section has bike lanes, wide sidewalks, light rail in center median; 2 through lanes in each direction
Near Caltrain (commuter rail) terminus in San Francisco; two light rail stops on and two within one block of study section
Car speeds@85 th percentile = 35 mph, 56 kph (off-peak)

Surface street section of Highway 101 (Caltans-owned) linking North Bay via Golden Gate Bridge and Van Ness to downtown San Francisco and the San Francisco Peninsula
3 travel lanes in each direction, narrow center median, narrow sidewalks, no nearby rail transit
Auto-oriented land uses (motor inn motels and car repair)
Car speeds @ 85 th percentile = 33 mph, 53 kph (off-peak)

Historic urban street, part of Highway 82 (El Camino Real elsewhere on the San Francisco Peninsula; Caltrans-owned)
Becomes West Santa Clara Street (San Jose’s main downtown street) east of Stockton Street
Links I-880 to downtown San Jose
Near HP Pavilion, Home of San Jose Sharks
Redeveloping, transit-oriented
2 through lanes in each direction with 2-way center left turn lane
Near Caltrain (commuter rail)/Amtrak/Capitol Corridor/ACE (commuter rail) station
Car speeds @85 th percentile = 37 mph, 60 (kph off-peak)

Re-designed in 1990 from 2 travel lanes in each direction to 1 in each direction with center-left turn lanes at intersections
Curbside “flex-zone”, used as either parking or outdoor café space
Near Caltrain (commuter rail) station and light rail stop
Successful café street with regional draw
Main street for Mountain View, CA (home of Google)
Car speeds @ 85 th percentile = 26 mph, 42 kph (off-peak)

“ Main street” for Palo Alto, CA’s “second downtown”
Near Stanford Research Park and Stanford campus
Near Caltrain (commuter rail) station (street ends at tracks)
Scheduled for re-design from 2 travel lanes in each direction to 1 lane in each direction with center-left turn lanes
Café street, well-known locally for its restaurants
Car speeds @85 th percentile = 22 mph, 35 kph (off-peak)

Links west San Carlos and San Carlos Hills residential neighborhoods to Highway 101 via El Camino Real and Holly Street
Two travel lanes in each direction; suburban section also has center left turn lanes
Half of the study section has bike lanes in each direction, half has no bike lanes
Half of the study section is “main street” downtown design (no setback from sidewalk, continuous street front); half is mixed suburban commercial and residential use
Car speeds @85 th percentile = 32 mph, 51.5 kph (off-peak)

Mid-October to early December 2007; dry weather conditions, temperature range =
49 to 77 degrees F
Student workers and researcher
Pedestrian and bicycle volumes (along and crossing street)
Pedestrians standing, sitting
Pedestrians interacting
Café chair count
Space allocation in ROW (to private vehicles, public transit, pedestrians, bicycles, “nature”)
On-line surveys (street users, merchants), focus groups (one each street), visual assessment survey
Vehicle speed surveys, vehicle classification surveys

Effect of comparative land use (residential and commercial) density
Effect of comparative “catchment area” (.25 mile/.4 kilometer) population and employment (2007 est.)
Effect of comparative public transit boardings and service intensity
Relationship of crash and crime rates to non-motorized travel volumes
Factorial, difference among means, and multivariate statistical analysis
Ped, bike, transit LOS analysis
Focus groups themes, key words evaluation

Ite 2008 Pp2

by joekott on Aug 23, 2008

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Ite 2008 Pp2 — Presentation Transcript