Level Of Traffic Stress Affects Everyone

How does Level Of Traffic Stress affect the way people use city streets on bikes or on foot?

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition urges the city to implement bicycle infrastructure detailed in the Plan For Walking And Biking.

We need to build an interconnected bicycle network, including left turn lanes from Main Street, and we need leading pedestrian and leading bicycle intervals (LPIs and LBIs), build mini traffic circles and other methods to calm traffic, and provide clear signage for motorists and people riding bikes and walking to enable everyone, especially the most vulnerable  to get to destinations safely.

Why Does LTS Matter?

To help identify what data may be most appropriate for your local context, it may be helpful to consider what type of bikeway network that residents and visitors to your city, county, or region may want or what threshold must be crossed to convince non-bicyclist to give bicycling a try.

“Creating a less stressful bicycle network though minimizing or eliminating some of these factors can help to make bicycling more appealing to a broader segment of the population. Ultimately, LTS tries to capture the increasing number and diversity of people that may be willing to use a bicycle facility as these stress factors are reduced.”

To learn more, read the comments to this graphic in a lively conversation on ALTA Planning’s Face Book page.

About 50% of our trips are ≤ three miles. Why aren’t more short trips made by foot or bike? One piece of the puzzle is that travel distance along high-stress routes feels longer than it actually is.

3 Replies to “Level Of Traffic Stress Affects Everyone”

  1. Hi,
    I am really interested in how you figured out the results in this figure “Your Distance vs. what it feels like”.
    How did the process go on?

    Thanks a lot, best regards
    Daniel

    1. The level of stress on a commute is related to traffic.
      This is from Alta:
      “This chart is conceptual, serving as a supplement to an analysis of traffic stress caused by perceived safety issues, extended travel distances, and difficult terrain. You can read more about the LTS analysis here” :
      https://blog.altaplanning.com/level-of-traffic-stress-what-it-means-for-building-better-bike-networks-c4af9800b4ee

      A quote from the article:
      “Creating a less stressful bicycle network though minimizing or eliminating some of these factors can help to make bicycling more appealing to a broader segment of the population. Ultimately, LTS tries to capture the increasing number and diversity of people that may be willing to use a bicycle facility as these stress factors are reduced.”

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