U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center has developed a walkability and bikeability checklist for community members to use in assessing facilities in their neighborhoods.
In the walkability checklist, residents are asked to pick a typical route that they travel (e.g., to the store, or to school) and to walk the route with the checklist in hand. Some of the questions on the checklist included:
Residents are then provided with tools for scoring the results, and most importantly, a list of ideas for addressing concerns.
While these tools do not follow the formal RSA process, they are effective tools in raising awareness of safety issues. Local or State planners and engineers could encourage residents to use these surveys as part of a project's public involvement process. The results of the survey provide information about the user's perceptions of safety on a facility. These perceptions are important complementary information to the crash, roadway, and traffic volume data that is typically readily available to city or state staff.
The walkability checklist is available at http://www.walkinginfo.org/
