Mapping & GIS at the University of Kentucky

How close do you live to a pedestrian path?

A Pedshed is used to show how many people are connected by pedestrian paths and sidewalks with either a five-minute or fifteen-minute walk. Only roads with sidewalks are included in the analysis. It is assumed that people can walk faster on pedestrian paths (3.4 mph) than roads with sidewalks (2.8 mph).

Paved paths and sidewalks were attributed and digitized from 2010 aerial photography by students in University of Kentucky Department of Geography’s GEO 409 course, Spring 2014.

This analysis has a focus on existing access and potential future access (of various completed designs)of Lexington’s two longest shared-use trails, the Legacy and Town Branch Trails.

How more connected would Lexington be if the Legacy Trail and Town Branch Trail were completed?

Analysis Results

Five-Minute Walk From All Existing Pedestrian Paths
Approximately 149,000 Fayette County residents (50%) live within a five-minute walk (on a sidewalk) of an existing paved pedestrian path, such as shared-use trail, park walking trail, and school walking path.

Fifteen-Minute Walk From Existing Town Branch & Legacy Trails
Approximately 11,500 Fayette County residents (approximately 3.8%) live within a fifteen-minute walk (on a sidewalk) of existing Town Branch Trail and Legacy Trail facilities. View a dynamic map of this scenario here.

Fifteen-Minute Walk From Completed Town Branch Trail Phase III Without Bridge Across Town Branch
Approximately 12,800 Fayette County residents (4.3%) would live within a fifteen-minute walk (on a sidewalk) of Phase III of Town Branch Trail and Legacy Trail facilities. This option does not include a bridge across Town Branch.

Fifteen-Minute Walk From Potential Future Town Branch & Legacy Trails (with bridge across Town Branch)
Approximately 38,900 Fayette County residents (12.5%) would live within a fifteen-minute walk (on a sidewalk) of finished Town Branch Trail and Legacy Trail facilities.  View a dynamic map of this scenario here.

Maps and Analysis

Point locations for collisions were downloaded from the Kentucky Collision Analysis for the Public (http://crashinformationky.org/) hosted by the Kentucky State Police. Analysis was performed for Kentucky’s Fayette and Jefferson Counties for data period January 5, 2003 – February 23, 2014 as part of University of Kentucky Department of Geography course GEO 409, Spring 2014.

Combined Maps. Click individual county for map.

Louisville Statistics

• AMONG ALL COLLISIONS
  4,592 pedestrians v. car collisions occurred with 173 pedestrian fatalities (3.8% of total) and 4223 pedestrian injuries (92% of total).
• AMONG ALL COLLISIONS WITH PEDESTRIANS USING ALCOHOL OR DRUGS
  257 pedestrians v. car collisions occurred with 26 pedestrian fatalities (10%) and 227 pedestrian injuries (88% of total).
• Rate: 6.1 collisions per 1,000 current residents
• Download Map

Lexington Statistics

• AMONG ALL COLLISIONS
  1,689 pedestrians v. car collisions occurred with 47 pedestrian fatalities (2.9% of total) and 1580 pedestrian injuries (94% of total).
• AMONG ALL COLLISIONS WITH PEDESTRIANS USING ALCOHOL OR DRUGS
  130 pedestrians v. car collisions occurred with 9 pedestrian fatalities (6.9%) and 118 pedestrian injuries (91%).
• Rate: 5.5 collisions per 1,000 current residents
• Download Map

Analysis and maps by Boyd Shearer.

Fayette County, Kentucky

Summary
This index favors more natural settings such as rural areas, forests, stream valleys, larger public parks, and areas of high relief. National Register of Historic Properties are included and while most properties were small and located in the urban core, larger properties with tree canopy scored a relatively high value in the index; Ashland and the Lexington Cemetery are examples. Locations in southern Fayette County scored the highest values because of their proximity to the forested cliffs of the Kentucky River Palisades. Neighboring river tributaries, such as Boone Creek and Elk Lick, extend high scenic values northward.

Link to full version of map

The area with highest contiguous value is Raven Run Park, primarily because it is publicly accessible, though unfortunately not during the time one might watch a sunrise or sunset. Notable scenic corridors are found along Town Branch, and the North and South Forks of Elkhorn Creek. Because the data used to calculate this index is from 2001 and 1998, some areas that score a high value, e.g. Hamburg area, have since been altered and would score lower values as the density of the built environment increased.

Methodology
Scenic conditions were converted to raster datasets and assessed an integer value based on a location’s proximity to tree canopy, water, historic areas, parks, scenic roads, and the probability of seeing a sunrise or sunset at that location. Those conditions are shown in the Fayette County maps found at the bottom of this page. A location is defined as a 5-foot resolution raster cell. Using Map Algebra, all raster datasets were overlaid to find which locations had the greatest number of scenic conditions. The resulting map provides a relative scenic landscape index. Locations with higher values in the index have more scenic conditions. For example, areas with the highest values offer the best chance to see a sunrise or sunset in a natural setting of forested parks, historic areas, or rural places with ponds or lakes. Areas with the lowest values are primarily dense urban environments without tree canopy cover, parks, historic areas, or ponds.

Layers in Index
Views of Sunsets and Sunrises is an index of areas to view sunsets and sunrises on the solstices, assuming one has a clear view of the sun at 8 degrees above the horizon on these two days. Areas that had the most likely view of a sunset or sunrise were awarded more value than areas with a less likely view.

Proximity to Tree Canopy and Water is an index of areas that are under tree canopy or on a waterbody (greater than a 1/4 acre), or within 200 feet of either. Any of these conditions awarded equal value in the index. Tree canopy derived from 1998 aerial photography.

Parks, National Register of Historic Properties, and Scenic Roads is an index of areas that were state parks or passive natural setting parks were awarded higher value in the index. Community parks, publicly accessible national register properties, and areas within 500 feet of county designated scenic roads were awarded lower, but equal, value in the index.

Densely Built Urban Environment is an index of areas with increasing density of built environment were awarded lower values in the index. Derived from the 2001 National Land Cover Database.

Lexington, Kentucky. October 15, 2008 – October 14, 2013.

An analysis of bicycle accidents reported by Kentucky law enforcement agencies over 5 years in Fayette County.

Of all workers (16 years and older) living in the Urban Service Area, only 0.94% say the actively bike commute to work. Within 0.5 miles of a bike lane or sharrow, the share of workers saying they bike commute rises to 1.7%. Also, 89% of bike commuters live within a half mile of a bike lane or sharrow. It is estimated that 25% of all reported accidents have happened on streets with a sharrow or bike lane.