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Pedestrians in a crosswalk near South Station in Boston.A woman in a wheelchair and her service dog traveling on a city sidewalk.Cars traveling around a rotary/roundabout.People sitting at an outdoor café on Newbury Street in Boston.A wheelchair user boarding a trolley in Portland, Oregon.A woman and her service dog at a crosswalk with detectable warnings in San Francisco.

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Guide for the Planning, Design, and Operation of Pedestrian Facilities

Organization:

AASHTO, American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials

Rating:

Very Useful

Abstract:

This book provides guidance on the planning, design, and operation of pedestrian facilities. It is divided into four chapters -- Introduction, Planning for Pedestrians, Pedestrian Facility Design, and Pedestrian Facility Operation and Maintenance. There is no coverage of construction details and construction. At the end of each chapter, footnotes serve as a useful bibliography. The book is not a stand-alone document, but relies heavily on the users familiarity with the AASHTO Green Book, the MUTC manual, and ADAAG. Nor is it a reference book to which you refer for design details. Rather, a planner/designer should read it through before commencing work, and then refer back to it when more information about some specific feature is needed.

Annotation:

This book describes itself: "The scope of this guide includes planning, design, and operation of pedestrian facilities. This guide is not intended to set forth strict standards, but to present sound guidelines that provide for the needs of pedestrians and other roadway users."

The book is divided into four chapters -- Introduction, Planning for Pedestrians, Pedestrian Facility Design, and Pedestrian Facility Operation and Maintenance. The missing chapter is Construction. At the end of each chapter, footnotes serve as a useful bibliography. The book is not a stand-alone document, but relies heavily on the users familiarity with the AASHTO Green Book, the MUTC manual, and ADAAG. Nor is it a reference book to which you refer for design details. Rather, a planner/designer should read it through before commencing work, and then refer back to it when a design feature is needed. Although the chapters are titled according to the stages of development, their content is not bound by their title. Planners need to read the 3rd chapter also, and designers need to also read the 2nd and 4th. For instance, signage and signalization (including location) are in the Operation and Maintenance chapter, Chapter 4. Round-abouts and mid-block crossings -- both planning issues -- are in Chapter 3, not 2. While there are subject headings that specifically address access issues, the authors do a good job of integrating access issues into the body of text, a welcome change from most other planning/design manuals.

The book mixes performance criteria and specific criteria from regulations on about a 50-50 basis. When it gives specific design criteria, there is some confusion between what exactly should be used -- the current ADAAG, the new ADAAG, or the new draft right-of-way guidelines. The authors handle this by using the old ADAAG when they cite references, and the draft right-of-way guidelines when they give criteria. The problem with using regulations for criteria, though, is that they are expressed in maximums or minimums, not what should be done. Frequently the authors give both, but in this they are not always consistent. For instance, under driveway design, they make clear why you must avoid having a severe cross slope, but they leave the impression that all you need is 4-foot clear at the top of the driveway apron. Readers would have been better served if the authors provided a contextual rationale such as "Sidewalks are for people. Accordingly, maximize the width of the pedestrian path (the driveway apron cannot be considered as part of this path). To this end, keep the depth of the apron to 2 feet or less." As a complement to ADAAG, the MUTC manual, and the AASHTO Green Book, this is one of the best. Information is missing and more pictures and drawings would have been valuable but may have proven too cumbersome, and too difficult for retrieval of information. An index would have greatly improved its utility.

Number of Pages:

127

Illustrations?

Yes

Material Type:

Book

Key Document?

Yes

Categories:

Regulations, Codes, Guidelines, & Standards (National, State, Local), Policy, Planning, Concept Design

Keywords:

Pedestrian Facilities

Strengths:

  • State of the art information.
  • Excellent resource for Planners, Designers during early stages of design.
  • Access criteria included with discussions of general design elements.
  • Most criteria are performance based and accompanied with rationale and best practice.

Weaknesses:

  • Not useful for design detailing, construction, or maintenance.
  • Sometimes gives criteria as maximums/minimums instead of best practice.
  • Not stand-alone. Must be used with ADAAG, MUTC, and AASHTO Green Book.

Suggestions for Future Editions:

  • Incorporate an index.
  • Always give best practice, and eliminate maximums/minimums as stand-alone information.

Record Last Updated:

July 2006

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