Assessment of Sidewalk/Bicycle-Lane Gaps with Safety andDeveloping Statewide Pedestrian Crash Rates

Pedestrian and bicycle safety have emerged to be of major concern to federal and selected states in the U.S. With the increased emphasis on the multimodal transportation, pedestrian and bicycle safety has become more common for governmental agencies to address and prioritize for strategic planning and construction. It was crucial to address the pedestrian-vehicular conflict within Florida as it was reported in the “Dangerous by Design” report as having the highest four (4) pedestrian incident locations in the country. This research has two objectives: (1) Developing a safety prioritization tool that would assist governmental agencies in the prioritization of sidewalk gaps and/or bicycle-lane gaps based on a balanced approach between safety needs, socioeconomic evaluation, operational constraints, and fiscal assessment. (2) The development of statewide averages for pedestrian crash rates that would give transportation planners and engineers a barometer indicating how the Districts compare against other areas. A wide array of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) layers associated with the sidewalk/bicycle lane gaps and the safety data was secured by Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). The results showed that absence of sidewalk along roadway segments is one of the main factors that have a significant impact on the expected number of pedestrian crashes at a specific location. The pilot studies conducted for the roadways and intersections revealed several critical safety locations within District Five when compared to the developed statewide average rates. These locations require further investigation to identify main causes and assess the mitigations that could potentially lead to improvements.