| Quality urban spaces, including plazas and pedestrian malls, encourage use of the Central Business District (CBD) and stimulate a vibrant atmosphere for casual strolling, window-shopping, and browsing (Rubenstein, 1992). Dallas, which defines the term "automobile city" in many people's minds, began developing and implementing a visionary plan in the early 1990s for light rail as a tool for economic growth and community development. The city's Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) starter system of light rail opened in June 1996, and the city that grew up with the automobile began to embrace transit as an integral part of its future (Garrick, 2000). DART further developed a downtown transitway mall in 1996 within the CBD to enhance the economic vitality and aesthetics of the area.A transit mall consists of the removal of automobile and truck traffic from an existing principal retail street and allowing only public transit such as buses or light rail. The mall becomes a retail spine or corridor through the central business district. (Rubenstein, 1992). The DART transitway mall was designed to reenergize downtown Dallas as a center where people work, reside, or come for recreation, culture, and shopping. Since the implementation of the transitway mall, a limited number of studies have addressed the design of the mall as a pedestrian district (North Central Texas Council of Government [NCTCOG] 2003).The objective of this research is to evaluate design elements of the downtown transitway mall and study their impacts on walkability and accessibility within the mall. Research began with a comprehensive literature review to determine what design elements affect walkability and accessibility of an urban environment. A combination of passive observation techniques, walkthrough surveys with design professionals, and analysis of the Regional Mobility Initiatives data (NCTCOG, 2003), were utilized to evaluate the walkability and accessibility of the transitway mall. The findings from these three methods were analyzed using data triangulation.Results of the study indicate that certain design elements impact the walkability and accessibility of the transitway mall in regard to accessibility and the walking experience of pedestrians. This research can guide landscape architects and other design professionals in their future design projects to create walkable and accessible urban spaces for pedestrians. |
