A Study on Existing Sidewalks to Interpret the Condition of Pedestrian Facilities using the Concept of Level of Service (LOS) in Urban Suburbs of Sri Lanka

This study is aimed at assessing the impact of pedestrians' behaviour and existing sidewalk facilities on Level of Service (LOS) for pedestrians in urban suburbs of Sri Lanka. For this study, two urban suburbs, Kaduwela and Athurugiriya junctions were selected. They are considered to be two main suburbs in Colombo district. During this study, sidewalks in six road links in these two city centers associated with roads AB4, AB10, B174 and B240 were selected to determine Level of Service (LOS) for pedestrians based on existing sidewalk facilities and pedestrians’ behaviour. Thus, data such as pedestrian count and walking speeds, vehicular flowrate, walkway space and width, roadway condition and etc. were collected on weekdays and weekends for a period of one month prior to data analysis. Collected data was analyzed based on the methodology proposed in the Highway capacity manual to determine the existing Level of Service which is dependent on Pedestrian flow rate, vehicular flow rate, average speed and sidewalk space for selected road links. This study demonstrates that from the selected six road links, two in Athurugiriya and one from Kaduwela were classified under LOS standard of A, one road link from Kaduwela city center was classified as LOS standard of B. while, one each from both city centers were classified under LOS standard of D. Hence, recommendations were discussed to enhance sidewalk, provide sidewalk safety fences and prohibit unauthorized settlements in sidewalk for improving Level of Service (LOS) for pedestrians using sidewalks in urban suburbs of Sri Lanka.