TITLE:
Walkable Streets: A Study of Pedestrians’ Perception, and Attitude towards Ngei Street in Machakos Town
AUTHORS:
Julianne Kinyingi, Njuguna Mugwima, Dennis Karanja
KEYWORDS:
Street Walkability, Built Environment, Pedestrian, Desirability, Cleanliness and Maintenance
JOURNAL NAME:
Current Urban Studies,
Vol.8 No.3,
August
20,
2020
ABSTRACT: Street walkability is an indication of the suitability of the built
environment to walking. Walkability of any street will increase when safe,
comfortable and accessible infrastructure is provided for pedestrians. Urban
designs influence how an individual perceives the built environment, including
the desirability of walking and all other physical activities involved. Three
street factors (accessibility, congestion and cleanliness) along a 900 meters
long central segment of Ngei Street in
Machakos Town were directly measured by use of standardized
questionnaires. The number of pedestrians in the segment was estimated using
Fischer’s formula and 96 of them where sampled using judgmental technique.
Majority (51%) of pedestrians who responded to the questionnaire indicated that
the street was wide enough and accessible while 12%, 15%, 3% and 17% strongly
agreed, disagreed, neutral and agreed respectively. In addition, the results
revealed that densities of movement increase with increased width of the
walkways. With little consideration of pedestrians and other road users’ this
has led to high congestion in Ngei Street which was affirmed by 47% of the
majority respondents. Lastly, 56% of the respondent confirmed that the Ngei Street (understudy) was well maintained and
clean. This study recommends improvement and addition of non-continuous
pedestrian walkways, designation of pedestrian crossing across all street
segments to ease traffic management and reduce vehicle congestion in addition
to periodic walkways maintenance and regular pavement cleaning.