Analysis of Walking Speeds Involving Individuals with Disabilities in Different Indoor Walking Environments
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 142, Issue 1
Abstract
Walking facilities are important infrastructures in communities. These facilities should be designed to accommodate the needs of all types of pedestrians. Unfortunately, existing design guidelines fail to offer adequate consideration for individuals with disabilities owing to a lack of empirical data. To address this knowledge gap, a controlled large-scale research project was conducted at Utah State University (USU) to study the walking behavior of people with various types of disabilities in various indoor walking facilities. These facilities included a passageway, different types of angles (right and oblique), bottleneck, and stairwells. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the impacts of individuals with disabilities on crowd walking speed, and to study the impacts of different indoor walking facilities on the movements of various pedestrian groups. Results show that the presence of individuals with disabilities in a crowd significantly reduces the overall crowd speed. Statistical analysis also reveals similarities and differences between the walking speeds of various pedestrian groups. A regression model is calibrated to predict the speed of various types of individuals with disabilities in different indoor walking facilities. The findings of this paper may help urban planners and walking facility designers consider the needs of people with disabilities.
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Acknowledgments
This research is supported by a National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) grant, under ED Grant No. H133G110242. The authors would also like to thank all who helped in building the circuit and aiding on tests and experiments. The project website is http://laep.usu.edu/htm/research/evacuation-behavior.
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Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 142 • Issue 1 • March 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 2, 2014
Accepted: Apr 6, 2015
Published online: Jun 17, 2015
Discussion open until: Nov 17, 2015
Published in print: Mar 1, 2016
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