Community Connectivity Analysisto Support Active Living

Brent Turley, PEBMPO Joint Policy Board/TAC Meeting

November 9, 2011

The Nexus?• Connectivity: The quality of a network to facilitate travel

between two points. • Good connectivity means removed barriers to travel• Good pedestrian and bicycle connectivity means greater

opportunity for active living trips• Connectivity can be a performance or priority metric• Connectivity can be one of several metrics to evaluate

active living policies over time

Point-to-point GIS routing?

The direct measure of connectivity

B

A/B B

Route Directness

Index

71

Distance Decay Score

91

ViaCity Score81

A

Existing With Connectivity ProjectsExample

Other connectivity metrics?Metric Constraint

HCM 2010 Multimodal LOS (NCHRP 616)

Facility based; Not sensitive to network systems, barriers, or key connections

Travel demand models Not scalable to pedestrian or bicycle level of detail

Walkscore (or similar web tools) Informational only; Not applicable for project planning

Intersection density Indirect metric; Not sensitive to projects

GIS buffering Ignores network completely

LOCAL EXAMPLESBMPO Analysis

Study Locations• Downtown• Schools (2)• Parks (2)

Are these destinations well connected to surrounding areas?

Analysis Process• Select parcels/building within 0.5 mile buffer around site• Enhance street network to create pedestrian network• Assign pedestrian quality to each network link• Calculate connectivity metric (ViaCity score)• Review results, run/compare scenarios

Downtown• Good sidewalk

coverage• Barriers:

• River• Railroad• Yellowstone Hwy• S Boulevard

Downtown• Scores:

• Average = 65• Over 60 = 73%

• Problem areas:• Northeast• South• Southwest

Tautphaus Park• Few sidewalks near

park• Barriers:

• Rollandet Ave• S Boulevard• Park access points• On-site network

Tautphaus Park• Scores:

• Average = 53• Over 60 = 29%

• Problem areas:• Points west• Southeast• Adjacent streets

Sand Creek Middle School• Set back from

arterials• Barriers:

• Canal• Paved connections

to west• Arterials

Sand Creek Middle School• Scores:

• Average = 54• Over 60 = 32%

• Problem areas:• North (canal)• West (multi-family)

Iona City Park• Recent pathways• Barriers:

• Some arterials sections

• No defined routes

Iona City Park• Scores:

• Average = 63• Over 60 = 56%

• Problem areas:• Defined routes

Eagle Rock Jr High School• No sidewalk along

collectors or arterials

• Barriers: • Broadway St• Skyline Dr• Pancheri Dr

Eagle Rock Jr High School• Scores:

• Average = 54• Over 60 = 49%

• Problem areas:• Crossing Broadway• Crossing Skyline

Eagle Rock Jr High School

Link Ranking• Another metric• Aggregation of

shortest paths from each parcel

• Potential high priority links

Summary StatisticsAverage

ViaCity ScorePercent

Parcels > 60Number Total

ParcelsDowntown 65 73% 1,776

Eagle Rock Jr High 54 49% 1,514

Tautphaus Park 53 29% 2,024

Sand Creek Middle 54 32% 1,225

Iona City Park 63 56% 587

BEFORE & AFTERExamples

Eagle Rock Before• Scores:

• Average = 54• Over 60 = 49%

Eagle Rock After• Scores:

• Average = 57• Over 60 = 49%

• Project:• Crossing Skyline

Eagle Rock Change• Parcels impacted:

• Change > 5 = 163• Change > 20 = 132

Sand Creek Before• Scores:

• Average = 54• Over 60 = 32%

Sand Creek After• Scores:

• Average = 56• Over 60 = 35%

• Project:• Yard crossing

Sand Creek Change• Parcels impacted:

• Change > 5 = 113• Change > 20 = 66

Questions?Brent Turley, PE

brent.turley@transpogroup.com208-377-2345

Ross Racine