IMPROVING PEDESTRIAN, BICYCLE AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION TRAFFIC WINTER CONDITIONS IN HELSINKI

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1 IMPROVING PEDESTRIAN, BICYCLE AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION TRAFFIC WINTER CONDITIONS IN HELSINKI Esko Laiho, Maintenance Engineer, City Environment Sector of Helsinki Abstract The city of Helsinki s strategy program promotes walking, biking and public transportation as means of transport. In the city s mobility development plan walking and cycling are of top priority of the different modes of transport. The strategy program implements the recommendations of the city s promotion plan for all these modes, the goal of near future being increasing their modal share in traffic by 1 % every year. In Helsinki, winters present a significant challenge to traffic, which is why one of the most effective methods of increasing the share of different modes of transport is to improve winter maintenance for the respective modes. In respect to pedestrian traffic, the city conducted an inspection of its pedestrian path network. The inspection was based on identifying the most important pedestrian destinations and routes and on coherent winter maintenance classifications. The city also conducted a bicycle path pilot in winter, in which brushing and different de-icing solutions were tested with quality standards far above the city s normal winter maintenance standards. The pilot was conducted in close co-operation with the Helsinki Cyclists association, which provided feedback and assessed quality. Winter conditions for public transportation were improved by enhancing the winter maintenance of bus stops to reduce slipping accidents of passengers and increase the friction for the bus tires. These methods can be understood as a service, with which the user experience of pedestrians, cyclists and public transport passengers can be improved. In the presentation, the methods, the results, feedback from the users and future plans are discussed. Key Words: Level of service, walking, cycling, public transportation, winter maintenance, maintenance classifications, user feedback Introduction The City Council of Helsinki, the city s highest decision making body, is responsible for defining the city strategy program for each council term. One of the program s targets for the council term was to forward sustainable transportation by increasing the share of walking, cycling and public transport. The goal was to achieve an increase of 1 % per year, i.e. 4 % during the city council term. The strategy program lists improving the continuity and safety of walking and cycling paths as a measure to increase the share of these transport modes. In Helsinki, winters present significant challenges to both continuity and safety of roads and paths, which is why one of the most effective methods of increasing the continuity and safety of walking and cycling paths, and thus the modal share of walking and cycling, is to improve their winter maintenance. With the continuity of pathway winter maintenance in mind, the city conducted a geospatial pathway network analysis, the aim

2 of which was to improve the quality of winter maintenance on important pedestrian routes. As for improving the safety of pathways and increasing the modal share of cycling, the city has begun to test improved winter maintenance methods on select bike paths to encourage people to travel by bike even in winter. In regard to improving winter maintenance for public transportation, bus stops pose challenges. If winter maintenance around the stops isn t done carefully enough, the risk of slipping accidents increases and the buses have more difficulty manoeuvring to and from the stops. This is why a particular focus has been put on monitoring bus stop winter maintenance. walking by forming a continuous and logical pathway network, which connects major residential areas to the most important destinations. Method The analysis was done in co-operation with the consulting firm Sito Oy. The analysis was executed computationally based on geospatial information. The following initial data were used: existing path network and winter classification population density accessible routes and areas Pathway Network Analysis Background primary bike path network lighting Carriageways and paths in Helsinki are divided into three winter maintenance classes, which specify in what time a carriageway or a path needs to be gritted or ploughed after surface friction levels have dropped below a specified threshold or after snowfall. For example, after snowfall has ended (with a resulting snow depth of 5 cm minimum) in the evening, an A-class footpath needs to be ploughed by 7 AM the following morning, whereas a C-class path needs to be ploughed by noon. Traditionally, foot and bike paths have been assigned to the corresponding winter maintenance class as the adjacent carriageway. If a pedestrian wants to travel the shortest distance to a destination, the path can differ a lot from the route one would take by car. The pedestrian may need to pass through streets of varying levels of hierarchy. In regard to winter maintenance, this often leads to discontinuity, where a pedestrian s journey may suddenly be slowed down when entering a stretch assigned to a lower maintenance class. The aim of the pathway network analysis was to identify the most important pedestrian routes and their winter maintenance needs. The founding principle is to encourage ski paths route specific user feedback flow analyses of pedestrians to nearby subway stations locations of services and public transportation. One of the tasks in the analysis was to revise the winter maintenance classification for foot and bike paths. The new classification retained the response times (i.e. A-class paths need to be ploughed by 7 AM), but added new requirements, which are listed in Table 1. A-class (snow ploughed by 7 AM) Paths connected to the largest concentrations of important services (primary bus stops, subway and train stations, kindergartens and health services) Accessible routes and areas Primary bike path network Paths connecting significant local centres to one another B-class (snow ploughed by 10 AM) Paths connected to smaller

3 concentrations of important services Paths supplementing A-class paths leading to significant pedestrian destinations Accessible routes and areas C-class (snow ploughed by noon) Paths connected to concentrations of less time-critical services such as culture services Other paths Table 1 Winter maintenance classification for foot and bike paths defined in the analysis Results Based on the parameters given, the analysis yielded results as shown in Figure 1. Of the about 2900 km of paths registered in the city s database, there were about 350 km of paths of which the winter maintenance class was raised, and about 134 km of which the class was lowered. Streets had a net increase in paths that had their class raised, whereas parks had neither net increase nor decrease. The result that parks had proportionally less increase in winter maintenance can be explained by the parameters used in the analysis, which emphasized concentrations of services and population. Current network Planned network Figure 1 Proportions of paths in different winter maintenance classes before and after the analysis (area, not length). If all the changes proposed in the analysis had been made, the resulting winter maintenance costs of foot and bike paths using current unit prices would have been estimated to increase by about 3.3 %. But seeing as the results had been produced automatically by a computer, they had to be reviewed manually in co-operation with experts, who had local knowledge, such as winter maintenance contractors. It was found out during the review process, that the analysis had been lacking information on path slopes and widths, which led to the analysis proposing winter maintenance on several pathways, which had previously not been maintained during the winter due to steepness or narrowness. Such results were rejected during the review process. Even though one of the original intentions of the network analysis was to inspect winter maintenance classification of pathways from the perspective of a pedestrian, instead of having sidewalks automatically be assigned to the corresponding class of the adjacent carriageway, it was deemed necessary from a practical point of view to keep carriageways and sidewalks assigned to classes with similar response times. Each sidewalk with a maintenance class change was judged individually, whether the change had to be rejected or the adjacent carriageway s class could be changed to correspond to the proposed change of the sidewalk. Due to the automated nature of the analysis, many of the changes were illogical or unnecessary in nature, such as having a previously highly maintained path be replaced unnecessarily by another, possibly less suitable one. Despite many of the changes having been rejected during the review process, the analysis was considered useful, as reviewing the results provided an opportunity to carefully revise the winter maintenance classifications of the city s streets and paths. On occasion, reviewers decided to change the maintenance class of paths that had been completely untouched by the analysis. Improved Bike Path Winter Maintenance Background The City of Helsinki aims to increase the modal share of cyclists to 15 % by 2020 from 11 % in 2013, as per the city s strategy program and urban mobility policy. The city s population is expected to grow rapidly, and considering how the amount of space in the city is only decreasing, more efficient means

4 of transport are required, which is one of the reasons why the city is investing heavily in cycling. Other reasons include health and cost benefits. Currently the city maintains bike paths during the winter according to its winter maintenance classification. Traction control is done by sand gritting and snow removal by ploughing according to the class-specific response times (A-class paths by 7 AM and C-class paths by noon). According to feedback from cyclists, winter maintenance by the city s current maintenance standards doesn t promote cycling, and the city has been getting requests to start brushing important paths on a route-specific basis. Method To answer the needs of the city s strategy program and user feedback, the city decided to develop a winter maintenance method suitable for the street network and climate of Helsinki. One of the goals was to create winter maintenance quality standards sufficient for increasing the number of winter cyclists and to find out how much the improved winter maintenance would cost. For the experiment the city chose three test routes. The first route is 10.4 km long, the second is 12.2 km and the third 7.5 km. On the first route, brushing and different de-icing materials were tested alongside traditional salt. Based on the experiments with the first route, brushing and gritting with regular salt were chosen as the method of choice for the second route, whereas traditional winter maintenance methods (sand gritting and ploughing) but with stricter response times were chosen for the third route. The experiment was done in close cooperation with the local cyclists association, who agreed to provide monitoring, surveillance and feedback on the experiment. Results The reason, why salt was deemed to be the most suitable de-icing material for the second test route was cost. Other solutions, such as an organic salt of acetic acid and monoethanolamine, a potassium formate based solution and a calcium magnesium acetate based solution were tested. The materials were found to be effective in deicing and less harmful to the environment, surfaces and vehicles, but they were around tenfold in price compared to regular salt (NaCl and CaCl 2). Results from the first winter on the first test route showed that the amount of cyclists increased by about 18 % compared to the previous winter. Testing showed that brushing is central to achieving better quality, which showed in user feedback, praising brushing in particular. Brushing was % slower than ploughing, though, and a worker had to be committed full-time to maintain the first test route. Praise was also given for replacing crushed rock gritting with salt, since crushed rock aggregates have a tendency of causing blowouts for bicycle tires with their jagged edges. Not all people were excited about salt gritting in their feedback, because of the corrosive effect of salt and some of the experimental de-icing solutions. The majority of feedback on salt gritting was positive, however, which is why testing continues with salt. Some negative feedback was also given by dog owners who complained about salt harming their dogs paws. Based on the experiments with the first test route, higher quality winter maintenance was calculated to be about 67 % more expensive than regular winter maintenance. Since the winter season was mild, the effectiveness of employing traditional winter maintenance methods with stricter response times couldn t be measured. Testing will continue in the following winters, and a new test route will be launched for the winter Winter Maintenance at Bus Stops Background In terms of winter maintenance, public transportation is taken pretty well into consideration in Helsinki, where winter maintenance is currently prioritized on bus

5 routes, which are always assigned to 1st and 2nd winter maintenance classes, on which carriageways are to be ploughed by 7 AM. While winter maintenance on the bus routes themselves is in good shape, challenges remain at the bus stops flanking the routes. Winter maintenance is considerably slower at bus stops, which may end up being neglected during time-constrained periods, such as during heavy snowfall. If winter maintenance around the stops isn t done carefully enough, it may lead to slipping accidents and difficulties for buses to enter and exit the bus stop. Method Improving winter maintenance at bus stops could encourage more people to take a bus, which is why in the winter the city started a project of setting 19 of the busiest bus stops with the most negative feedback under heightened surveillance, to ensure that winter maintenance quality standards were met. It was also decided to collect feedback from bus drivers and passengers to survey the quality of winter maintenance at the bus stops and what would make traveling by bus more attractive. The quality requirements for bus stops state that the carriageways and paths leading to the bus stops need to be gritted or ploughed by their respective response times. The traction of the kerb between the bus and the bus stop is to be good enough for people to embark and disembark safely. Snow banks caused by ploughing are not to impede movement to and from the bus stop (for example wheelchairs and prams) or the use of the bus stop in general. The snow banks are also not allowed to hinder visibility in a way that would reduce traffic safety. Surveillance of the bus stops winter maintenance was done by the supervisors already in charge of monitoring contractors in the corresponding areas. The bus stops chosen for the project were to be monitored more frequently than other bus stops. Inspection rounds were to be made whenever snowfall ended, low friction was reported or at the end of the response times specified by the winter maintenance classification. Results The winter had been relatively mild, with sporadic snowfall, which often melted soon after having fallen down. However, the temperature constantly shifting above and below 0 C did necessitate more gritting than on an average winter. No feedback had been given on bus stop winter maintenance by either bus drivers or passengers, though. Supervisors reported only minor deviations from quality standards. Conclusion The results of the pathway network analysis were found to be useful, even if many of the proposed changes had to be rejected. Many of the proposed changes were still found to be good, and with better initial data, such as on pathway slopes, widths and possibly traffic volumes, the results could have been even better. And even if nothing else, the analysis was a great catalyst for activating a revision of the existing winter maintenance classification in the first place. Improving winter maintenance on bike paths by brushing and salt gritting was found to be a good way of increasing cycling during the winter. Despite receiving some negative feedback, the overwhelming majority of it has been extremely positive, which is why testing will continue, with aspirations of testing improved winter maintenance methods during harsher winters, as well. New test routes will be opened in the following winters with the total length of the test routes reaching 40 km from the current 30 km by Based on the limited experience from the winter season , little else can be concluded from the bus stop monitoring project besides that during mild winters, winter maintenance quality requirements for bus stops are generally met. Heightened surveillance will continue for the following winter season, as well, to gain more insight and feedback on bus stop winter maintenance during harsher winters.

6 Author Biography & Photograph Mr. Esko Laiho is working as maintenance engineer in the City Environment Sector of Helsinki. He has an active role in development projects regarding level of service and IT and GIS solutions for street and park maintenance. He graduated from Aalto University (M.Eng.) in 2014 majoring in highway engineering. He has worked as a research assistant at the Aalto University highway research group in and has held his current position at the City of Helsinki since 2014.