Sustainable Communities Partnership Edmonds, WA: Assessment of Accessibility, Use and Perceptions of Place Participatory Action Research Anthropology 454/554 Dr. Sean Bruna, Department of Anthropology & MA Graduate and Undergraduate Students
Research Goals Assessment of “Walkability” of 10 Locations • Assessment of Built Environment • Observation of Use 88th A 68th Ave W ¯ • Pedestrian Perspectives 196th St SW 524 200th St SW e v N A e Maplewood Dr c v A i p t m e s n y • Recommendations l u O S 5th Ave N YOST PARK 206th St SW EDMONDS-WOODWAY 5 CORNERS W e W HIGH SCHOOL e A v h t M a i n S t 4 v ¯ 7 Dayton St 9th Ave N A 208th St SW d 99 Bowdoin Wy r 3 8 5th Ave S 3rd Ave S 212th St SW SWEDISH 96th Ave W W HOSPITAL e v Pine St A h CHASE LAKE t 66th Ave W 0 8 COMMUNITY TRANSIT ELEMENTARY SWIFT STOP 2 2 0 t h S t S W W W Research Process l 2 2 4 t h S t S W e P WESTGATE 76th Ave W W 84th Ave W v ¨ ¦ § A h ELEMENTARY e t d I-5 5 ¯ v n 9 A 2 7 n 104 t 0 0 1 W s t S t S W 231 e • Student Designed Subprojects v A WESTGATE 4th VILLAGE 7 Timber Ln 2 4 0 t h S t S W LIGHT RAIL STOP (FUTURE) • 24 students N 205th St/244th St SW N 20 Research Sites • 9 Weeks • 4 Research Teams • Mixed Methods
Accessibility of Routes to School in Edmonds, Washington Cody Carlson, Sahar Arbab, Anna Waham, Mike Dechant, Natalie Anderson, Jina Starr, Dominic McGuire, Kaite Ward Presented by Dr. Bruna
Literature Review • Transit to school has largely shifted over the last half century, changing from 47.7% walking or biking in 1969 to 45.3% being driven in 2009 (McDonald et al. 2011, 148). • A report on the SRTS program in California revealed, “unsafe intersections and crossings; high traffic speeds, large amounts of traffic, and violence or crime along route; and lack of sidewalks or pathways, crossing guards, and adults to bike or walk with” were all significant concerns of walking to school (Chaufan, Yeh, and Fox 2012, 1). • “...although parental consent for active commuting grew with each increasing grade, peaking at sixth grade, a significant proportion of parents reported feeling uncomfortable with it at any grade” (Chaufan, Yeh, and Fox 2012, 1).
Schools of Focus • Edmonds-Woodway High School • Chase Lake Elementary • Westgate Elementary Creative Commons, 2017
Methods Phone Interviews (N=2) • Interviews with relevant community actors affiliated with the school district • Ex. Question: Are there any obstacles for kids getting to their bus stops? Surveys (N=54) • 21/54 of survey participants were responding in regards to the schools of interest • Surveys posted in online interest group that shares resources with mothers of students that attend Edmonds School District • Ex. Question: What would you say makes a safe walking or biking route?
Methods Personal photographs, 2017
Personal Photographs, 2017
Results Coding Key: Student Populations Accessibility Special education Transportation\Bus system Homeless students Boundaries Ridership Getting to School Bus stops Bus Sidewalks and shoulders Biking Walking routes Walking Parental attitude Drive to school Environmental Factors Drop off Creative Commons, 2017
Results • The need for sidewalks was a prevalent answer among the short answer portion of the survey. Over half of the respondents (12 out of 21) reported that more or wider sidewalks would make walking and biking routes to school safer. – Ex. “A short strip of our route has no sidewalk. I don't feel safe walking with 4 little kids on that strip. Too narrow and cars drive too fast.” • Safety and Environmental factors were also of concern to those interviews and surveyed – Ex. “Maplewood Drive is unsafe; walking to the bus stop on Maplewood Drive is hazardous. There are trees, bushes, and parked cars pushing walkers into the street. Very dangerous at all hours, and doubly dangerous during winter darkness.”
Results Some specific routes and roads came up multiple times: • 220th St. and 84th St. were often mentioned Edmonds School District Website, 2017 – Ex. “really hit or miss depending on traffic” and “too many cars.” • Highway 99 was considered an issue within the walking barrier for Chase Lake
Results Below is a map composed of community members’ areas of concern marked out to act as a visual aid. The dotted blue lines highlight some of the problem areas that some of our survey participants mentioned.
Conclusion and Recommendations From our data collection and analysis we recommend: • Increased attention to walking paths, especially for students that are not provided bus transportation; • Increased lighting in areas that have have students walking without sidewalks; • Increased signage enforcing speed limits; • Increased signage indicating that pedestrians are sharing the spaces; • Traffic flow management at school drop-off times; • Constructions of more bike lanes
Opportunities for Further Research Some areas that would benefit from further research include: • Assessing the accessibility and safety of routes to school for Sherwood Elementary; • Assessing the ability of specific populations including special education and homeless students in getting to school
Works Cited Chaufan, Claudia, Jarmin Yeh, and Patrick Fox. 2012. “The Safe Routes to School Program in California: An Update.” American Journal of Public Health 102 (6): e8–11. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300703. McDonald, Noreen C., Austin L. Brown, Lauren M Marchetti, and Margo S. Pedroso. 2011. “U.S. School Travel, 2009 AN Assessment of Trends.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 41 (2): 146–51. doi:10.1016/ j.amepre.2011.04.006.
Public Transportation & Improving Pedestrian Infrastructure In the City of Edmonds By Aimee Bower, Kennedy Small, Scott Sutton, and Tavie Keo Presented By Kennedy Small
Agenda ● Literature Review ● Key Terms ● Results ● Research Goal ● Key Points & ● Research Sites Recommendations ● Methodology ● Conclusion
Key Terms Community Based Participatory Action Research - Involvement from community members, organizational representatives, and researchers - draws upon the strengths of each group - avoids ethnocentricity and provides positive results for all groups involved MLTP&R: Mountlake Terrace Park & Ride EP&R: Edmonds Park & Ride
Research Goal Use qualitative research methodologies in hopes of potentially changing and/or improving the pedestrian environment around current public transit areas in the city of Edmonds, and the area in which a potential future light rail stop will be located.
Research Sites Photo 4 & 5 - EP&R at night, bike locker, payphone and Photos 1 & 2 - MLTP&R at night, bike lockers, much darker lighting police phone and great lighting Photo 3 - MLTP&R at night well lit Photo 6 - Map at EP&R, shows detailed bus routes
Research Sites Photo 7 - Arrival boards at bridge to Bays Photo 8 - One of many security cameras 6&7, not viewable from Bays 1-5 around MLT P&R, no interviewees mentioned them directly but insisted they felt safe at site
Methodology Our research was broken into three phases. ● Phase 1 : Choosing our sample of research participants by reaching out to members who were part of the community and speaking with already established connections, as well as researching current literature which we can later compare our findings. ● Phase 2 : Interviewing the residents of Edmonds on their experiences with the public transit system and the area surrounding it, as well as on site observations of the public transit system facilities ● Phase 3 : Transcription of interviews and thorough analysis of research findings, in which we identified patterns, similarities, and differences among the responses of each participant and comparing mixed-methods research to the existing literature.
Literature Review “A well designed public transit system which gets people out of their cars and onto their bikes or a bus has clear health and economic benefits. A report by the Transit Cooperative Research Program specifically outlines the cost and benefits of each system, and uses quantitative data from research conducted on multiple low to middle class neighborhoods.” (Lingwood 1999) “ Accessible public transportation can have a profound effect on the levels of stress experienced by commuters by reducing traffic. One study found that, in cities with a developed transportation system, 10 – 30% less people drove on a regular basis.” (Litman 2013)
Results pt. I Bio Concerns/Thoughts ● 27-year-old woman ● Transit can be slow and ● Income under $50,000 per frustrating when the buses don’t year run on time ● Depends on public transit ○ East-West routes exclusively for ● Desire for arrival boards at transportation MLTP&R bays 1-5 ○ Know what is happening real time, can plan accordingly ● 5$ minimum on Orca punishes poor people ○ Can be difference between keeping and losing job
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