Stage 1 – Scoping the plan

This stage shows you how to identify where and why to prepare a walking network plan and action program. It explains the importance of a vision and setting out evaluation measures early in the project.

The drivers for a plan could be:

socio-economic disadvantage
crash hotspot/s
community feedback
new investment in infrastructure projects, urban development or a tourist attraction
local intent to increase walking around a facility such as a public transport station/stop, school, hospital or town centre.

If you intend to use a consultancy to develop your walking network plan and action program you can request a model project tender by emailing walking@tmr.qld.gov.au.

Project inception

Identify the key stakeholders who should be involved from the beginning. This should reflect the project drivers and include organisations with responsibilities for delivery.

At the inception meeting, prepare a walking vision and objectives. Your vision should be specific to the walking catchment and connect to your organisation's aspirations.

Take a multidisciplinary approach. Identify:

local land use planning, transport, tourism, health, environment/climate change and recreation policies that support the development of a walkable environment
existing information/feedback from stakeholders and the community about current walking conditions that might help define plan objectives, such as wellbeing and satisfaction surveys, project survey, town hall feedback or community comments.

Agree the project governance processes and how you will get the plan and actions endorsed.

We need endorsement from the relevant regional planning coordination group before publishing a plan. Engage your district early in the process so they can support the final plan and program. Contact walking@tmr.qld.gov.au for advice or more information.

Case study: Agreeing a vision

Making it easier and more attractive to walk in a local area can help achieve transport accessibility, health, social and environmental objectives. For example, the Healthy Places Healthy People framework identifies nine connected built and natural environment attributes that support healthy and active living under three themes: connected, welcoming, responsible. Two of the nine focus on active transport.

The framework is an initiative from Queensland Health and the Office of the Queensland Government Architect. When setting a vision for your walking network plan, identify the cross-departmental benefits that a better walking environment can bring. This will help frame the importance of walking and achieve buy-in for implementation.

You can find out more at Healthy Places Healthy People .

Review policy and information

Relevant TMR policy and strategies include:

Queensland Walking Strategy 2019-2029: sets the Queensland Government vision for walking to be an easy choice for everyone, every day. The strategy includes the sustainable transport hierarchy (Source: Public Transport Infrastructure Manual, TMR, 2019)

Road Safety Strategy 2022-2031: prioritises people-friendly streets and has movement and place as a theme.

Understanding the demographic context is essential for:

developing a baseline to measure progress against
understanding community needs to inform engagement approaches
responding to community needs in your plan and action program.

Create evaluation framework

Identify:

What are your overall objectives and desired outcomes?
What data is already available?
What additional data would need to be collected?
How can this data be collected and what is the budget for evaluation?

There will likely be limited baseline data. Use the vision and objectives to determine what you will need to collect to support the evaluation.

Align evaluation measures with agreed walking vision and/or route objectives.

Collect data that will assist with evaluating the plan or a project. Use measures that are influenced directly by the improvements you are seeking. For example, you can assess speed reduction measures using before/after speed surveys. Before and after photos document the improvements to walking, how they were achieved and the difference they made. Before and after walking counts measure change in use.

Tap into cost-effective ways to monitor and evaluate success of your network plan and action program that may be incorporated into TMR, council or other organisations' existing activities. These could include:

monitoring complaints or incorporating satisfaction questions in existing customer service surveys
community surveys or interviews (for example, via existing 'have your say' processes or using online mapping platforms) to evaluate improvements following works implementation.

Use the following information to identify the types of data that may be suitable for evaluating your plan or project:

Evaluation	What to measure	Data sources
Planning	Strategically planned active transport routes	Distance of primary and secondary walking routes in metres (steps in linked GIS guides)
Planning		Delivery of Active Transport Strategy or distance of Principal Cycle Network Routes Number of participants and views in the engagement or community process
Change in demand	Growth in number and types of people walking	Travel surveys/diaries/hands up surveys (schools)
	Growth in walking mode share	ABS Census Journey to work Household Travel Survey National Walking and Cycling participation Survey (can be conducted at council level)
	Mode shift/diversion rates	Mobile phone data Origin – destination data On street surveys (tracking trip lengths and routes, types of people using facilities, delays experienced and so on) Walking participation survey Intercept surveys
Safety	Reductions in vehicle traffic volumes and traffic speed	Traffic counts Connected vehicle data (before, after, behaviour change)
Safety	Reduction in number of fatalities and hospitalisations that are related to pedestrians	Speed surveys TMR Road crash database Before/after road safety audits
Attitudes/ perceptions	Percentage of residents that feel comfortable walking in their local area	Statistical phone/online surveys or intercept surveys
	Perception of safety, including personal security	Online spatial interactive mapping (e.g. social pinpoint, accessibility mapping)
	Percentage of population who consider they have good accessibility to a range of services (by walking)
Economic change	Cost benefit analysis of projects in precinct	Active transport economic appraisal tool
	Vacancy rates/ land or rent values	Real estate data
	Turnover	Local business surveys
Route use	Growth in number of people walking along primary routes	Manual and/or automatic counts Mobile phone/Bluetooth data Observational surveys Intercept surveys with users Traffic signal operational data (pedestrian crossing activation) Cordon counts
Action program delivery outcomes	Completed works	Footpaths (length) Supporting infrastructure (such as amount of shade/street trees, wayfinding signage, seats or AT counters installed) Crossings/intersection improvements (number improved/added) Speed reduction (over a length) 'Before' and 'After' photos Behaviour change programs, or participant numbers

Case study: using pedestrian sensor data to improve decision-making

Since 2021, Gold Coast City Council has upgraded and invested in permanent active travel data counters that use infrared and in-the-ground sensors. The data is captured in individual records to determine volumes classified by user type (walking/riding/other) and is automatically updated daily on an internal council display.

Walking and riding data are used to:

Report against corporate measures such as strategies and policies
Assess change in user numbers after completion of infrastructure projects
Count peak pedestrian movements near large attractors such as schools and beaches
Explore effects of weather, vehicle movements and construction projects
Understand return on investment to further support investment decisions.

Last updated 22 April 2024