PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS AND EVALUATION METHODOLOGY FOR SHARED STREETS

Abstract

This article has a twofold purpose: to present the pertinent characteristics of shared streets and to present a methodology for their evaluation. The basic concept of the shared street is that pedestrians have priority over vehicles and drivers must adjust their normal behavior pattern mainly by reducing speed. The shared street is almost always constructed in residential areas with relatively low housing density, i.e., without the existence of high-rise buildings. The methodology for a systematic evaluation of shared streets is composed of four major stages: evaluation of pedestrian flow, evaluation of vehicle flow, evaluation of safety level and evaluation of parking patterns. The methodology may be adopted for evaluating a shared street in a new residential area or a regular street that was converted to a shared street.