Field Observations & Existing Infrastructure

The data collection involved 3 site visits for field observations. The observations ranged from 45 minutes to 1 hour and at varying times of the day and week to give a sense of the different levels of traffic and movement.

First site visit: Sunday 12-12:45pm. Overall street activity was very slow. Even vehicular traffic seemed moderate. The transit center consisted of roughly 10 people waiting for busses and approximately 10-15 people at waiting at the platforms at the trolley stations. Pedestrian sidewalk traffic was hardly utilized. Up to 6 individuals total were seen utilizing the sidewalk in 45 minutes. Three individuals were headed east along Market St. to the transit center to wait for a bus. Another two individuals crossed east across Euclid Ave. after stepping off the bus from the transit center. The sixth individual seen utilizing the sidewalk was crossing Euclid Ave. heading east. No bicyclists were witnessed riding during the site visit.

Overall pedestrian usage of the street was extremely low and expected of an automobile-oriented design in a low-density setting. Most of the observed pedestrians utilizing the crosswalk were only doing so to either board a trolley or bus or were arriving from one. The large majority of mobility came from vehicles traveling along Euclid Ave. with the nearby freeway exit of the CA-94 north of the transit center. It can be assumed that the pedestrian trips witnessed could be characterized as “first-mile-last-mile” trips, a term used in transportation planning which describes the requirement to walk from an origin to a transit stop, and similarly from the transit stop to the end destination. These types of pedestrian trips are ones made of necessity when using public transit, rather than walking for recreation such as strolling through a street full of retail and restaurants.

Second site visit: Friday 4-5pm. Vehicular traffic was much more significant than the previous visit on the weekday afternoon. Euclid Ave. was highly congested with a high volume of cars traveling both north and sound bound. The transit center also experienced a slightly higher volume of riders waiting at both the platforms for the trolleys and the bus terminals. The level of pedestrian activity was still low however, with fewer than 5-7 pedestrians using the sidewalks or crossing the intersections at any specific time. The majority of pedestrian activity took place within the transit center and people walking south to the adjacent Market Street Plaza retail center.

Third site visit: Wednesday 12-1pm. Vehicular traffic was moderate and similar to the first site visit on the weekend. There were slightly more transit riders, at approximately 20 riders, waiting for busses and the trolley than on the weekend, but fewer than the afternoon. Pedestrian street activity was again very low and mostly consisted of passenger heading to the transit center to board a bus or trolley, or just arriving from the transit center and making their way to their final destination. Again, the majority of the pedestrian activity was taking place within the transit center and some people crossing to and from the transit center to the adjacent Market Creek Plaza. There was no observable pedestrian activity that exhibited recreation or strolling. No bicyclists were also seen using the road.

The urban design of the area surrounding the transit center was documented in the site visits to describe existing conditions of streetscape. Both Euclid Ave. and Market St. had a posted speed limit of 40 mph for vehicular traffic. The main north-south corridor, Euclid Ave., is built up of two lanes on each side, with an additional third lane for left turns at the start of the intersection with Market St. for the northbound route. The southbound route for Euclid Ave. has a additional fourth lane with two left turn lanes.

The northbound lanes at the intersection measure a total of approximately 45 ft. The southbound route measured similarly at a total of 46 ft., even with the additional lane. The furthest right lane was extra wide and measured 20 ft. accommodate and right-turning vehicles. The routes without the turning lanes consisted of two lanes with different widths. The outer right lane measured approximately 20 inches while the inner lane measured the standard 12 ft. Altogether, the combination of all lanes in both the north and south bound lanes of the automobile right-of-way on Euclid Ave. measure out to a total of approximately 82 ft. A pedestrian attempting to cross this street would have to cross this total length, along with an additional setback from the corner curve of the sidewalk, would have to walk approximately 96 ft. of automobile right-of-way from one sidewalk curb to the other across the street (Appendix C).

As for Market St., the route approaching in intersection has 3 lanes, with one left turn lane and an extra wide right side lane for right-turning vehicles. The left turn lane measures 13 ft., while the middle lane measures the standard 12 ft., and the right lane measures 20 ft. The route after the intersection has two lanes measuring at 12 ft. for the left lane and 20 ft. for the right side lane. The total width of all lanes on Market Ave. measures to a similar 83 ft., and pedestrian would have to cross approximately 100 ft. of automobile right-of-way from one sidewalk curb to the other.

Along Euclid Ave., the sidewalk width only measures approximately 4.75 ft. along the northbound route with the corner bulb extending to 6.75 ft. The southbound route has a sidewalk that measures 7.75 ft. with the corner bulb extending to 8 ft. There exists a thin island divider at the middle of the intersection for both streets, but they are meant to protect vehicles from oncoming traffic rather than serve as a safety zone for pedestrians crossing the street.

The length of the block from the corner of the Euclid and Market, going south along Euclid Ave. until the next intersection—in this case a railroad track—was approximately 276 ft. If excluding the railroad track, the next intersection would be approximately 590 ft. away at Naranja St. The block length of the residential street of Naranja, from west to east at the next intersection of 53 St., was 1,255 ft.

The measurements of the existing built environment, such as lane width, street width, sidewalk width, and block size, all inhibit a safe space for a pedestrian or cyclist. Every design feature measured was meant to allow automobiles to drive through as quickly as possible, while creating a hostile environment for users of other modes of transportation. Now, case studies of cities or neighborhoods known to be pedestrian-friendly will be analyzed to figure out what strategies can be learned for improving walkability.

Case Study Analysis

Downtown San Diego

These infrastructure designs and dimensions are a stark contrast to neighborhoods in cities that are considered more walkable. Even when compared to Downtown San Diego, with a much higher level of density, the majority of blocks measure at 190” x 315” ft., excluding the larger sidewalk curb corners (Figure 1). The same uniform block sizes are repeated throughout the entire Downtown area between the San Diego harbor and the Interstate 5 freeway. In terms of the street and sidewalk dimensions, the streets in Downtown San Diego were mostly one-way streets that consisted of three lanes and side-street parking. Each of the lanes measured the standard 12 ft. in width with a 10 ft. setback designated for side-street parking. The sidewalks measured from 14-15ft. in width, as opposed to the 4.75-7.75 ft. found in the Euclid and Market intersection in Encanto. Some sidewalks in Downtown San Diego even measured up to 20 ft. with when Side Street parking setback was replaced with more sidewalk curb closer to the intersection. Some of these intersections even included “bulb-outs,” an urban design strategy of creating more sidewalk space at curb corners to narrows the road at intersections and allow the pedestrian to cross a shorter distance of road space before reaching the next “bulb” at the other end of the street. These bulb-outs measured 18 ft. from the corner of the sidewalk to the corner of the nearest building. Intersections with four bulb-out corners, such as 5^th St. and E St., measured a distance of only 35 ft. of the automobile right-of-way that a pedestrian have to cross before reaching the other bulb. Intersections in Downtown without the bulb-out corners measured approximately 52 ft. of automobile right-of-way for pedestrians to cross. These measurements are a dramatic contrast to the 100 ft. of automobile right-of-way a pedestrian would have to walk in order to cross Market St. and the 80 ft. of right-of-way to cross Euclid Ave. in Encanto.