scholarly journals Are single entry communities and cul-de-sacs a barrier to active transport to school in 11 elementary schools in Las Vegas, NV metropolitan area?

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 144-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney Coughenour ◽  
Sheila Clark ◽  
Ashok Singh ◽  
Joshua Huebner
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Schools ◽  
Active Transport ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Las Vegas ◽  
Single Entry

scholarly journals Analysis of Self-Reported Walking for Transit in a Sprawling Urban Metropolitan Area in the Western U.S.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney Coughenour ◽  
Hanns de la Fuente-Mella ◽  
Alexander Paz
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Las Vegas ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Poisson Model ◽  
Active Transportation ◽  
Single Entry ◽  
Explicit Consideration ◽  
Design Characteristics

Walkability is associated with increased levels of physical activity and improved health and sustainability. The sprawling design of many metropolitan areas of the western U.S., such as Las Vegas, influences their walkability. The purpose of this study was to consider sprawl characteristics along with well-known correlates of walkability to determine what factors influence self-reported minutes of active transportation. Residents from four neighborhoods in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, targeted for their high and low walkability scores, were surveyed for their perceptions of street-connectivity, residential-density, land-use mix, and retail–floor-area ratio and sprawl characteristics including distance between crosswalks, single-entry-communities, high-speed streets, shade, and access to transit. A Poisson model provided the best estimates for minutes of active transportation and explained 11.28% of the variance. The model that included sprawl characteristics resulted in a better estimate of minutes of active transportation compared to the model without them. The results indicate that increasing walkability in urban areas such as Las Vegas requires an explicit consideration of its sprawl characteristics. Not taking such design characteristics into account may result in the underestimation of the influence of sprawl on active transportation and may result in a missed opportunity to increase walking. Understanding the correlates of walkability at the local level is important in successfully promoting walking as a means to increase active transportation and improve community health and sustainability.

Methodology for Evaluating the Safety of Midblock Pedestrian Crossings

2003 ◽  
Vol 1828 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenzhong Cui ◽  
Shashi S. Nambisan
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Las Vegas ◽  
Light Condition ◽  
Nonparametric Test ◽  
Rank Test ◽  
Signed Rank ◽  
Signed Rank Test ◽  
Pedestrian Crashes ◽  
General Statistical ◽  
And Gender

Spatial and temporal characteristics of midblock pedestrian crashes (MBPCs) were evaluated toward a better understanding of where and when the MBPCs occur. Existing databases related to traffic crashes were used. Other data used include traffic and geometric characteristics of the roadways under consideration as well as analyses of pedestrian and driver behaviors. General statistical analysis methods were used to evaluate various hypotheses. The statistical Z-test was used to evaluate the age and gender distribution, light condition, fatalities, and alcohol- or drug-use–related characteristics involved in MBPCs. The results correlated these factors with the potential for the occurrence of MBPCs. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used as a nonparametric test to compare the safety of midblock crossings with the safety of crossings at intersections. The methodology was tested and validated using midblock locations in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The results indicate that there is a significantly lower potential for conflict if pedestrians cross at an intersection instead of crossing at a midblock location. Although this methodology was applied to data from the Las Vegas metropolitan area, it is applicable to evaluating the safety of MBPC anywhere else, provided that appropriate data are available.

scholarly journals Assessing Walking and Cycling around Schools

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10607
Author(s):  
Khaled Shaaban ◽  
Khadija Abdur-Rouf
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Schools ◽  
Active Transport ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
School Type ◽  
Audit Tool ◽  
Good Separation ◽  
School Buses ◽  
Education Levels ◽  
The City

To encourage students to walk and cycle to school and ensure their health and safety, it is essential to provide safe and operationally efficient infrastructure around schools. This study used an audit tool to assess the infrastructure and environment around schools in the city of Doha, Qatar, with a particular emphasis on active transport (walking and cycling). The aim was to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Twenty-two schools with varied education levels were assessed. Among all assessed categories, active transport items scored the lowest, requiring the most improvements. A detailed analysis was conducted based on school type (elementary, primary, high, and mixed-schools) and revealed similar results except for elementary schools (scored acceptable for active transport). The study revealed that adding bike lanes, installing bicycle parking, and providing good separation of travel modes are the most needed improvements at school sites. In summary, improving active transport could significantly improve the overall quality of the infrastructure around schools in Qatar. Such improvements could greatly encourage more school children to walk and cycle to school instead of being primarily dropped-off and picked up by their parents’ vehicles or school buses.

scholarly journals The Influence of Urbanization on the Climate of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area: A Numerical Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (11) ◽  
pp. 2157-2177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samy Kamal ◽  
Huei-Ping Huang ◽  
Soe W. Myint
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Las Vegas ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Wrf Model ◽  
Urban Canopy ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Horizontal Resolution ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Slowing Down

AbstractIn this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model and its embedded land surface and urban canopy model are used to simulate effects of urbanization on the local climate of the Las Vegas, Nevada, metropolitan area. High-resolution simulations are performed with a 3-km horizontal resolution over the city. With identical lateral boundary conditions, three land use/land cover (LULC) maps for 2006, 1992, and hypothetical 1900 are used in multiple simulations. The differences in the simulated climate among those cases are used to quantify the urban effect. The study found that urbanization in Las Vegas produces a classic urban heat island (UHI) at night but a minor cooling trend during the day. An analysis of the surface energy balance helps illustrate the major roles of the decreases in surface albedo of solar radiation and increases in the effective emissivity of longwave radiation in shaping the local climate change in Las Vegas. In addition, the emerging urban structures are found to have a mechanical effect of slowing down the climatological wind field over the urban area as a result of an increased effective surface roughness. The slowing down of the diurnal circulation leads to a secondary modification of temperature, which exhibits a complicated diurnal dependence. This suggests the need for more investigations into the coupling of thermodynamic and mechanical effects of urbanization on local climate.

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