Paper Details

TRB 91st Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012)

Event Number:	652
Event Title:	Pedestrian Safety and Operations
Event Date:	Jan 24 2012 7:30PM- 9:30PM
Event Location:	Marriott, Salon 2
Event Description:
Event Agenda:

Weather or Not to Walk: The Effect of Weather and Temporal Trends During Temperate and Winter on Sidewalk Pedestrian Volumes in Montreal, Canada (12-2979)

This study examines the impact of weather on pedestrian activity, as well as the temporal trends related to pedestrian trips in the city of Montreal, Canada. In particular, this study investigates the impact of extreme weather conditions during the winter season, and the difference in pedestrian trends between winter and other seasons. Six pedestrian counters were installed throughout the city of Montreal in zones which were either mainly commercial-service, or else mixed residential-commercial. The land-use mix surrounding the counter was taken into consideration in the investigation. The analysis was carried out separately over the months of April – November and December – March and as expected, the impact of different weather variables over different seasons was very significant. During the warmer months (April – November) humidity, and precipitation > 30 mm had the largest impact on pedestrian trips whereas during the winter, temperature, and precipitation affected the volume of pedestrian trips the most. The changes in volumes based on weekday / weekend were also quite different. In the winter months, pedestrian flows were much more sensitive to adverse weather during the weekend than the workweek. However, in the temperate months, the differences between weekday and weekend were less important. Pedestrian activity was also found to decrease with continued precipitation, or due to a lag effect of earlier precipitation. Overall, volumes of pedestrians decrease slightly in the winter compared with the more temperate months; however, morning and afternoon peak commuting periods remain the same regardless of season. Many different factors were controlled for in this study such as time of day, weekend / weekday, and the built environment surrounding each counter; however there are still factors which affect pedestrian trends which should be explored further.

Authors
     Miranda-Moreno, Luis Fernando, McGill University, Canada
     Chapman Lahti, Aleksiina , McGill University, Canada