Developing Sidewalk Assessment Tool: Towards Evaluation of Pedestrian Environment in Urban Areas

Streets are one of the important means of transportation where sidewalks are one of their integral parts of which pedestrians are prime users. To plan for qualitative environment for pedestrians, existing sidewalk situations need to be assessed. In western countries several tools and models are developed for evaluation of sidewalks. However, most of these tools have neglected the importance of considering pedestrians’ perception in assessing Pedestrian Level of Service (PLOS) of sidewalks. A more accurate and sensitive tool would incorporate and account for the planning or improving of existing pedestrian environments in any city. The aim is to develop sidewalk assessment tool for evaluation of existing sidewalk environment from level of pedestrians’ satisfaction. This tool will help the municipal authorities to identify the sidewalk attributes that need to be measured, how to measure them and, finally, incorporating them into an appropriate assessment framework. The result of the study is interpreted in terms of Pedestrian Satisfaction Index defining PLOS and it contributes in identifying shortcomings of sidewalk attributes from pedestrians’ perspective.