Washington: Residents of lower- and middle-income King County with denser neighborhoods, with stores, libraries and other destinations within easy reach are more likely to walk or bike, says a recent study.
But neighborhood density did not motivate higher-income residents to leave their cars at home, the transportation engineers found. Of the environmental factors they studied, the only one that significantly influenced how frequently that group walked or biked was how attractive they found their neighborhoods to be.
These research findings were based on a random survey of 547 King County households who live in the highest- and lowest-density neighborhoods around State Route 520 across Lake Washington.
The survey, which was conducted in 2013, asked more than 100 detailed questions about people’s travel habits and about the built environment near their homes. The median annual income range for the lower-income group was between 40,000 dollars and 60,000 dollars and for the higher-income group was above 140,000 dollars.
The study will be presented at the Transportation Research Board annual meeting in Washington, D.C. this month. (ANI)