Data-Based Transportation Planning Doesn't Necessarily Plan for Pedestrians/Bicyclists

Data-based planning isn't going to help these folks get
across the street.

In transportation planning, many decisions are based on data. Unfortunately, as an article from CityLab yesterday points out, there are large amounts of data available on some things (such as traffic counts and flows), and almost nothing about others (bike and pedestrian counts and patterns). CityLab says this car-centric data we have fundamentally warps decision-making and the problem could get worse as we come to rely more and more on data.

When you ask people about their experiences walking, you often hear horror stories of drivers who don't yield to pedestrians, a lack of sidewalks and sidewalks too close to speeding traffic, among other things. Because we, to some degree, lack the metrics to define and measure those complaints, the problems basically don't exist. This makes it difficult to design transportation systems that address these issues.


CityLab has lots more and it's interesting reading. Check out the entire article at the link above.