Organizing Transportation Using Pedestrian Zone Approach and Investigating its Effects on Urban Traffic in Kermanshah

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to organize transportation using a pedestrian-zone construction approach and investigate its effects on urban traffic in the city of Kermanshah, Iran. First, the weights of criteria and indicators derived from the study’s theoretical framework were determined to measure the potentiality of passageways for pedestrian movement using the hierarchical analysis process and the Delphi method. Then, each of the passageways in the area under study (studied population) was quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated based on commercial, educational, treatment-health, recreational and leisure, and urban public facility [land] uses, the separation of sidewalks from the driving area, traffic density, the useful sidewalk width, and the width of sidewalk passage. Also, other factors such as access control, vision lines, hiding places, passageway lighting, the presence of police and police cars, network connectivity gradient, signs, sidewalk pavement, sidewalk obstruction, interfering terrains in height, parking lots, and public transportation stations were investigated. Concerning the criterion of land use, Beheshti Street and Modarres Street received higher scores than other passageways due to enjoying educational and treatment uses, and commercial and tourism uses, respectively. Concerning the criterion of traffic safety, Beheshti Street was assigned the highest score, while Modarres Street was assigned the lowest score. Concerning the criterion of security, both streets (i.e., Beheshti and Modarres Streets) held higher scores compared to other streets with a narrow margin. Modarres Street also obtained the highest score due to having a better situation in terms of interfering terrains of height, and the presence of strong signs such as the congregational mosque, and the traditional marketplace. The proposed fourth option, i.e., traffic organization, was found to be a more inclusive option by relying on full traffic elimination and permanent allocation of the path to a pedestrian zone.