Pedestrian walking speed at un-signalized midblock crosswalk and its impact on urban street segment performance

The Urban Street Segment Chapter of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) includes a methodology for evaluating the level of service urban street segments provide to automobile users. The methodology does not account for pedestrian activity at un-signalized midblock crosswalk on an urban street segment. Pedestrian activity at un-signalized midblock crosswalk on urban street segments causes friction conditions between automobiles and pedestrians. As a consequence, the average time it takes vehicles to travel along the segment is increased. Increasing segment running time decreases both the travel speed of automobiles and the level of service provided to automobile users. There is an inverse relationship between the delay incurred by interrupted vehicles and the speeds at which pedestrians walk while crossing at midblock. To account for this delay, there is a need to investigate pedestrian walking speeds at un-signalized midblock crosswalks. This study measured pedestrian walking speeds by age-group at two un-signalized midblock crosswalks on urban street segments. The first objective of this paper is to perform statistical analyses to examine the measured free-flow pedestrian walking speeds. The second objective is to demonstrate how the findings of this study can be incorporated into the Urban Street Segment Analysis Chapter of the HCM. Pedestrian walking speeds were recorded and analyzed for 2937 pedestrians. The results show teenagers walk at an average speed of 1.45 m/s, young adults walk at an average speed of 1.55 m/s, middle age pedestrians walk at a speed of 1.45 m/s, older pedestrians walk at speed of 1.09 m/s, and elderly or physically disabled pedestrians walk at a speed of 1.04 m/s.