The Walkability of Pedestrian Walkways in Adama Town

Abstract

Walkability is the basis for a sustainable urban environment. Walking is socially equitable that is most accessible to the masses, the cheapest, healthiest and efficient mode of transportation. Designing and planning for walking are fundamental for promoting healthy public life, creating sustainable urban areas, improving social life and economy. Urban spaces, such as those in Adama city center has been dominated by a high volume of motorized vehicles, which has subsequently caused the pedestrian space to be discriminated by vehicles. Though the largest portion of the city population travels by walking, pedestrian mobility has been severely compromised especially in the center of the town. Streets in Adama are planned considering automobiles as a primary mode of transport; there is no comfortable setting of walkable streets. The objective of this study is to understand the current situations and walkability of the pedestrian walkways along Tokuma Street to figure out a rational way of planning and designing a walkable built environment in the town. The study conducted both subjective and objective studies to assess the walkability of the sidewalks. Subjective methods were executed to capture the pedestrian walking behaviors and perceptions about the infrastructures of the built environment by conducting a questionnaire survey; thus, the study employed a convenience sampling techniques and executed 384 questionnaire survey. Objective methods were executed to assess the physical walking environment and the climatic condition of Adama town as a whole. Physical walking environment elements; sidewalk conditions, street crossings, safety and comfort of the sidewalks, utilities, on-street, and offstreet parking, street amenities, building orientations, pedestrian behaviors, and motorist behaviors were assessed using a walkability checklist. Findings from both subjective and objective dimension analyses indicate that the proximity of destinations, safety, comfort, welldesigned pedestrian facilities, and climatic conditions can significantly contribute to the walkability of the walking environment. Finally, the study had assured that Tokuma Street is not safe and it is dangerous for walking, and also the E-W and ENE-WSW Street and S, N, NNW, and SSE facing building orientations are directly exposed to the sun throughout the year which implies that pedestrians and the motorist are highly exposed to disease caused by UV. However, NW-SE, WNW- ESE and NNW-SSE streets and NE & SW, NNE & SSW, and ENE & WSW facing buildings are the optimal orientations for Adama town. Furthermore, S, N, NNW, and SSE facing buildings are recommended to not open large window glazing since the amount of solar radiation expected is high. This being a pilot study, the effects of street orientation on airflow, solar access, aspect ratio, and the effect of urban design on outdoor thermal comfort should be obtained in future studies.