Utilization of footbridges: influential factors and improvement proposals

In spite of significant development in using modern methods to enhance pedestrians’ environment and its sustainability, the provision of the footbridge still lacks its optimal function in protecting and transferring pedestrians from both sides of the street. This structure should be designed to accommodate every type of users, including children and elders. It should be designed in a way that focuses more on human needs as a priority rather than the other two elements of transportation system: road and vehicle. In the context of pedestrians’ safety, researchers have tried to understand pedestrians' behavior and their perception about safe walking and crossing. Thus, factors which affect pedestrians' decisions to choose their routes have been researched worldwide. This review paper endeavors to highlight the work that had been carried out to assess the utilization of footbridges. The findings on factors influencing the function of this structure showed that the most affecting factor to increase the usage rate was the consideration of the footbridge as a safe crossing, while the most cited factor of not using the footbridge was the lack of time. In addition, with a view on some proposed procedures to enhance the usage rate, barriers were the most suggested solution in the literature to increase the footbridge usage. Furthermore, this paper discusses the variety of environmental and economic benefits of constructing a footbridge.