Community Connectivity Analysis to Support Active Living Brent Turley, PE BMPO 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 Route Directness Index 71 Distance Decay Score 91 ViaCity Score 81 A

Existing With Connectivity Projects Example

Other connectivity metrics? MetricConstraint HCM 2010 Multimodal LOS (NCHRP 616) Facility based; Not sensitive to network systems, barriers, or key connections Travel demand modelsNot scalable to pedestrian or bicycle level of detail Walkscore (or similar web tools)Informational only; Not applicable for project planning Intersection densityIndirect metric; Not sensitive to projects GIS bufferingIgnores network completely

LOCAL EXAMPLES BMPO 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 Statistics Average ViaCity Score Percent Parcels > 60 Number Total Parcels Downtown6573%1,776 Eagle Rock Jr High5449%1,514 Tautphaus Park5329%2,024 Sand Creek Middle5432%1,225 Iona City Park6356%587

BEFORE & AFTER Examples

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 Ross Racine