Signal-free corridor development and their impact on pedestrians: insights from expert and public surveys

Increasing vehicular demand has compelled decision makers to turn urban roads into signal-free corridors (SFCs) in Lahore. These corridors aim at prioritizing car flow over other modes and consist of various car-centric projects (CCPs), such as continuous flow intersections, grade separation, and continuous through movement. These projects often ignore pedestrian requirements and, thus reduce pedestrian safety. Considering the ongoing development projects in Lahore, this study aimed at evaluating the concept of SFCs. A total of 6 existing SFCs were identified in Lahore, which lacked basic pedestrian infrastructure. An expert survey was then conducted to understand the purpose of creating these SFCs, their effects on pedestrians, and the way forward. The thematic analysis regarding the purpose of creating these SFCs and their effect on pedestrians indicated the prioritization of private cars and pedestrian safety issues as the two underlying themes. A questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate the perceptions of pedestrians on these two themes, i.e., pedestrian safety and car priority. Principle component analysis extracted two components labeled as pedestrian safety and car priority. Component scores were computed, and the three CCPs were then compared using non-parametrical tests in terms of both these components. According to the results, continuous flow intersections were declared to be significantly safer than continuous through movement and grade separation, whereas continuous flow intersection was found to be prioritizing cars over pedestrians significantly more than continuous through movement and grade separation. Finally, policy implications were presented for practitioners.