As other research studies show, construction sites may influence pedestrian traffic in the neighborhoods that are mainly characterized by visitor attractiveness activities (more leisurely activites such as museums, restaurants, retail), but as this study shows for urban areas similar to Grand Central as workplace hubs, construction works most likely won't have a significant impact on pedestrian traffic.


Conclusion and Future Work:

From conducting this study, three important takeaways were identified. First takeaway is on data acquisition: identifying non-traditional data sources by looking at different urban stakeholders, identifying their interests and seeing if they collect data and publish it for the open use (e.g., pedestrian count data from business improvement districts published through their websites in this case study).

Second takeaway is related to specifically studying impact on mobility: before conducting an impact assessment study, especially in mobility, it is important to look at the characteristics of a given neighborhood and ask the following questions (depending on the objective of the study):

From this study it is possible to conclude that a high amount of commercial activity, taking into account no extreme weather events, results in consistent pedestrian traffic pattern (weekdays versus weekends). The third takeaway and implication for further research could be in looking at square footage of commercial space in different business improvement districts and comparing it with aggregated pedestrian counts to see whether footage of commercial space in a given neighborhood can predict a certain aggregated amount of pedestrian traffic in that area. This interesting study could be conducted as the next steps following this research. 

Links:
1. Github Repository with analytical framework: 
https://github.com/ekaterinalev/PUI2016_el2666/tree/master/Extra%20Credit%20Project
2. Pedestrian Count data: http://www.grandcentralpartnership.nyc/about/reports-and-data
3. Building Permits data: https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Housing-Development/DOB-Permit-Issuance/ipu4-2q9a
 
Bibliography:
 
  1. Aultman-Hall L., Lane D., Lambert R.R. (2009). Assessing the Impact of Weather and Season on Pedestrian Traffic Volumes. University of Vermont. https://www.uvm.edu/~transctr/pdf/PedestrianTrafficVolumes-Aultman-Hall-Jan09.pdf 
  2. Downtown Seattle Association, Metropolitan Improvement District. (2013). Pedestrian Count Summary. December 2013 Update. https://www.downtownseattle.com/files/file/December2013PedCountAnalysis.pdf 
  3. NYC Open Data. https://nycopendata.socrata.com/ 
  4. Grand Central Partnership. Reports and Data. http://www.grandcentralpartnership.nyc/about/reports-and-data 
  5. Fujitsu (2014). Development of Quantitative Evaluation Method regarding Value and Environmental Impacts of Cities. http://www.fujitsu.com/global/documents/about/resources/publications/fstj/archives/vol50-2/paper13.pdf
  6. Development of a Quantitative Methodology to Assess the Impacts of Urban Transport Interventions and Related Noise on Well-Being (2015). Matthias Braubach, Myriam Tobollik, Pierpaolo Mudu, Rosemary Hiscock, Dimitris Chapizanis, Denis A. Sarigiannis, Menno Keuken, Laura Perez and Marco Martuzzi. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26016437
  7. Study to support an Impact Assessment of the Urban Mobility Package Activity (2013). European Commission. http://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/themes/urban/studies/doc/2013-10-urban-mobility-package-activity-31.pdf
  8. Light Rail Impact Study. An Ecologic and Economic Assessment. (2012). Siemens and City of Turku. https://www.mobility.siemens.com/mobility/global/SiteCollectionDocuments/en/integrated-mobility/mobility-consulting/city-of-turku-report-lri.pdf
  9. NYC DOT The Economic Benefits of Sustainable Streets. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/dot-economic-benefits-of-sustainable-streets.pdf