A link criticality approach for pedestrian network design to promote walking

Abstract Measures of walkability generally do not provide a detailed quantitative assessment pedestrian infrastructure development prioritization. In this study, link-based composite measure and walking is introduced to overcome limitation. This measure, called ‘pednet score’, based on weighted network (‘pednet’) made sidewalks crosswalks whose edge weights are descriptive their popularity. Edge popularity derived from home-based walk trip assignments simulated demand. Properties the pednet score studied using three hypothetical variants in North American cities, each involving addition candidate sidewalk and/or crosswalk segments. It shown that strategic selection these segments can substantially increase trips, some cases up 236%, reduce current mean distances by 340 m. A mixed approach both also shows considerably higher improvement than those considered alone. Results marginal benefit curves strongly indicate utility as link criticality for segment prioritization design.