For walking to become a viable choice for getting around the city, the experience has to be significantly improved. Walking near automobile traffic is inherently unpleasant to humans, especially when the traffic is consistent and moving at high speeds.
As a general rule, pedestrian walkways should never be placed directly next to a road designed for automobile traffic.
Current research is lacking. Few studies have been done that measure real-time physiological responses in real-world conditions. Those that have used various combinations of heart-rate monitoring, ***, and electrodermal monitoring (EDM). EDM is a measurement of how electro conductive skin is; this measurement is regarded as a strong indicator of stress as the pores on the skin open subconsciously and produce sweat in response to stressor conditions.
Has any field research been done to measure the physical effects of walking near traffic? Does it elevate stress hormones (I.e. cortisol) or other chemicals that have negative effects on our well being? Can we determine if it is based on a measurable factor like sound volume (decibels)? What about the impact visually of a large machine moving quickly while close to you? We need evidence and statistics to be able to show planners that there is a minimum separation needed as well as a need for other mitigating tools like sound reflecting walls, vegetation, quieting pavement, and whatever else we can develop to negate the impact of auto traffic.
Separately, we have to recognize that we can only mitigate the negative effects of auto traffic on pedestrians to a degree and so to have a truly pedestrian space, we have to remove auto traffic entirely. For the last 75 years we have built our cities under the belief that automobile traffic had to be able to reach every single nook and cranny. We have streets with no sidewalks aka no pedestrian access, but we have almost no streets that are pedestrian only. The few that do exist almost always are nationally known and regarded tourist destinations. We rarely integrate them into our neighborhoods or suburbs.
Going forward:
1. Establish principles for minimum separation between sidewalk and road for varying speeds
2. Reduce speeds and narrow streets
3. Designate areas to become pedestrian only zones. For Seattle, immediately identify 75 locations. Can be a single block to start.
4. Implement requirements for builders to push buildings back from the street to gain sidewalk space and in return they get increased vertical capacity. Can they get space over sidewalk starting at floor 3 without harming the street experience? Could be beneficial by providing cover from rain and sun, but could also crowd trees or feel claustrophobic to people below.
5. Focusing on alley access for autos would enable us to turn more residential streets into pedestrian only spaces without removing owners ability to access their home in a car. Clarify what we think alleys purposes are.
Seattle Streets 