Feature Analysis and Operation Evaluation of Pedestrian Weaving Zone

Abstract

Weaving behavior occurs because of the conflict of pedestrian walking streams, and such behavior manifests itself as weaving points in walking facilities. If many weaving points are concentrated in a relatively stable zone, the zone is defined as a pedestrian weaving zone (PWZ). Weaving behavior has a great impact on pedestrians’ speed and walking comfort, facility capacity, and passenger safety. First, both the concept of the PWZ and PWZ features are defined. By means of controlled experiments, data on weaving zone features and pedestrian weaving behavior are collected from different scenarios. Subsequently, PWZ features are analyzed through geometric features and location attributes of the weaving zone, and it is concluded that the pedestrian flow volume and the ratio of the two pedestrian streams (two-pedestrian-stream ratio) are closely related to the area of the PWZ rather than to the width and length of the pedestrian passageway, and the PWZ is closer to the exit than to the entrance of the passageway. Three new indexes—pedestrian weaving intensity, pedestrian trajectory offset ratio, and distribution density factor of weaving points—are introduced to analyze the operation of the PWZ. Finally, on the basis of the three indexes, the study establishes a pedestrian negative utility model to evaluate the operational status of the PWZ. The PWZ performs better with a decrease of utility. After analysis of the impact of passageway geometric features (passageway width and length) and pedestrian traffic features (pedestrian volume and the two-pedestrian-stream ratio) on the performance of the PWZ, two improvements in the planning and management of pedestrian passageways, through which the negative utility decreases 29.7% and 34.5%, respectively, are presented.