Pedestrian Level of Service Model – FunWalk for Science


The Florida DOT formed a research team headed by Landis Evans staff to develop the Pedestrian Level of Service Model using a special event placing people in real world walking situations and obtaining direct feedback. The FunWalk for Science event put scores of walkers out on a typical metropolitan roadway network to measure their response to a variety of traffic and roadside conditions. Their reactions confirmed that a mathematical relationship does exist between traffic, roadway and roadside geometrics and how safe, or comfortable, pedestrians feel. This relationship, the Pedestrian Level of Service Model, is a statistically reliable model that quantifies walking conditions within roadway environments. It is used to test roadway cross-section alternatives for better pedestrian accommodation. The Model is the Florida DOT’s statewide standard for evaluating walking conditions and it is quickly being adopted throughout the United States. SCI’s research, published in Transportation Research Record 2001, won the National Academy of Sciences – Transportation Research Board’s (Committee on Pedestrians) 2001 Outstanding Paper Award.