Maine DOT Pedestrian Volume Estimation

Project Overview

While the state of Maine has well-established models for vehicular traffic volumes (AADT), an analogous model for pedestrian volumes has been lacking. This gap makes it difficult for planners and engineers to make informed decisions about pedestrian infrastructure and safety investments. This project addresses this critical need by developing a comprehensive pedestrian volume estimation model for cities and towns across Maine.

Methodology

Building on recent advances in pedestrian volume modeling in urban districts (Sevtsuk et al. 2021; Sevtsuk et al. 2024) and larger cities (Alhassan & Sevtsuk, 2024), this project develops a Maine-specific model that accounts for:

• Network-based pedestrian route choice behavior
• Local land use and built environment characteristics
• Seasonal variations in pedestrian activity
• Demographic and socioeconomic factors
• Existing pedestrian infrastructure

The model employs spatial regression techniques and machine learning approaches to generate robust estimates that can be applied across Maine’s diverse urban and rural contexts.

Applications & Impact

The pedestrian volume model developed through this project enables:

• Evidence-based infrastructure planning: Identifying locations where pedestrian improvements would benefit the most users
• Enhanced safety analysis: Normalizing crash data to reveal not just crash locations but areas with highest crash probabilities
• Equitable resource allocation: Ensuring investments align with actual pedestrian demand patterns
• Climate goals support: Informing efforts to decarbonize transportation in socially just ways
• Better policy decisions: Helping identify locations for RRFBs, Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons, and High Priority Active Transportation routes

Key Findings

The project revealed significant spatial disparities in pedestrian volumes across Maine’s communities, highlighting areas with high pedestrian activity but inadequate infrastructure. The model successfully identified “pedestrian deserts” where latent demand for walking exists but is suppressed by poor infrastructure or safety concerns.

Outcomes

This work has provided Maine DOT with:

• A statewide pedestrian volume estimation tool
• Priority zones for pedestrian infrastructure investment
• A framework for integrating pedestrian considerations into standard transportation planning
• Recommendations for continuous pedestrian data collection sites
• Policy guidelines for advancing multimodal transportation planning