Application of PERS to Evaluate Walkability in State of Qatar

Abstract

Well-designed pedestrian facilities are essential to promote walking among residents. These facilities also act as safe space for use of cycling and other personal mobility vehicles. In 2018, Ministry of Transport developed a system to assess the pedestrian environment, called Pedestrian Environment Review System (PERS). The PERS system is intended to assess, in a consistent systematic way, the quality of the pedestrian environment. This paper applies the guidelines of this manual to assess the walkability in Doha City. A total of ten links and ten crossings were included in this study. On-street evaluation was completed for each selected element and relevant scores for each parameter was assigned. The links assessment demonstrated that, overall, there were some issues highlighted by the PERS Audit in the studied areas such as poor curb ramp design, placement of obstruction on the pavement, lack of tactile information, conflict between pedestrian and vehicles at side-entry intersections, unavailability of wayfinding materials, etc. The overall pedestrian environment in the wider area assessed was generally positive, adequately maintained and of an appropriate quality. The provision of poor-quality crossings was identified as a negative feature of the studied areas. The issues were related to the infrastructure itself. Recommendations are made based on findings to improve the walkability of pedestrian network in State of Qatar.