New Devices Measure Foot Traffic to Inform Transportation Planning, Court Retail Prospects
Published 9/6/18
Foot traffic has clearly increased in Midtown over the years. But how much? Where? And has foot traffic increased at a greater rate than car traffic? Midtown Alliance will soon have the answers to these questions. The organization is installing new technology that can measure pedestrian activity in the growing district. The data provided from counting the number of people on the sidewalk has a range of applications to future work, from planning transportation enhancements to attracting prospective ground-floor retailers.
“Traditionally, regulatory agencies have focused on car-based metrics to make decisions on how we design our streets,” said Dan Hourigan, Midtown Alliance’s Director of Transportation and Sustainability. “We believe that a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of mobility is critical to making informed decisions.”
Coming this Fall to a Sidewalk Near You
The info carries the potential to explain how the use of a corridor or intersection changes after improvements are made that make it more walkable, something that is not always tracked in transportation projects. Going up at 8-10 locations throughout the district, the counters transmit data in real-time over a cellular network to a database in the cloud. The equipment is funded by the Midtown Improvement District. In the coming months, Midtown Alliance plans to make the data “open-source” on the Resource Center and will share findings with partners at the City of Atlanta to identify trends that can help prioritize future transportation projects and investment.
Ped Data Essential to Attracting Retail Prospects
In addition, a recently-concluded district retail study identified several strategies that Midtown Alliance is now acting upon to collect and share information with commercial real estate industry partners. With more residents and workers arriving each season, access to trend data on pedestrian activity has become a must-have in the competition to attract retail investment into Midtown. Presently, there is nearly 500K SF of retail space under construction or proposed in the district, in addition to the one million SF that already exist.
Stay Current on Improvements Planned All Over Midtown
Keep up with the 30+ capital improvement projects that are at various stages of planning and implementation in Midtown Atlanta. View the list and descriptions here.