🚶 Walkshed Analysis

Explore the walkable area around transit stations. Walksheds show how far you can walk in 5, 10, and 15 minutes along the actual street network, accounting for real-world barriers and connectivity.

Select a station and click "Get Walksheds" to view analysis.

About Walkshed Analysis

This tool maps and measures the actual walking catchment area around transit stations by analyzing how far people can realistically walk in different time intervals. Unlike simple radius circles that ignore real-world barriers, walksheds account for the street network, topography, and physical obstacles that shape pedestrian movement.

What We Measure

The analysis generates three walking time zones centered on each station:

  • 5-Minute Walkshed - Shows areas reachable within a 5-minute walk (approximately 0.25 miles). Represents the "immediate" station catchment area most convenient for daily commuters.
  • 10-Minute Walkshed - Shows areas reachable within a 10-minute walk (approximately 0.5 miles). Represents the "core" station service area and typical maximum walking distance for regular transit users.
  • 15-Minute Walkshed - Shows areas reachable within a 15-minute walk (approximately 0.75 miles). Represents the "extended" station catchment area and maximum practical walking distance for transit-oriented development.

Each walkshed shows the actual accessible area accounting for street network layout and connectivity, physical barriers (highways, rivers, airports), and pedestrian infrastructure availability.

How the Analysis Works

This analysis uses the Mapbox Isochrone API, which calculates realistic walking areas based on actual street networks:

  • API Request - The system sends the station coordinates to Mapbox's walking isochrone service, requesting 5, 10, and 15-minute walking polygons.
  • Network Routing - Mapbox calculates reachable areas using complete street network from OpenStreetMap, actual walking routes and connections, physical barriers and obstructions, real-world pedestrian pathways, and assumed walking speed of 3 mph (standard pedestrian pace).
  • Area Calculation - For each time zone, the analysis measures total area in square miles and acres, geographic boundaries as polygon shapes, and precise area calculations using UTM projections.
  • Efficiency Analysis - Compares actual walkshed area to theoretical maximum. The theoretical maximum for 15 minutes is π × (0.75 mi)² ≈ 1.77 square miles based on 3 mph walking speed × 15 min = 0.75 mile radius, representing a perfect circle with no barriers. Efficiency percentage is calculated as (Actual area / Theoretical max) × 100. Higher efficiency means fewer barriers and better connectivity.

Walkshed Categories

Stations are categorized based on how much of the theoretical maximum area is actually accessible:

  • Highly Walkable (≥75% efficiency) 🟢 ⭐ - Excellent connectivity with minimal barriers, nearly optimal accessibility in all directions, maximum station catchment area achieved.
  • Well Connected (50-74% efficiency) 🟢 ✅ - Strong street network with good connectivity, some barriers present but manageable, above-average station accessibility.
  • Moderately Constrained (25-49% efficiency) 🟡 ⚠️ - Notable barriers limiting connectivity, may include rivers, highways, parks, or industrial areas, directional accessibility varies significantly.
  • Highly Constrained (<25% efficiency) 🔴 🚧 - Significant barriers restricting walkable area, may include water bodies, airports, major highway corridors, station serves specific directional corridors.

Why This Matters

Walkshed analysis is fundamental for understanding transit station effectiveness and planning:

  • Transit Ridership Potential - Larger walksheds mean more people and destinations within easy walking distance of a station. Analysis reveals accessibility gaps that limit transit usage.
  • Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Planning - Identifies where to focus housing and commercial development, reveals barriers that limit development potential, and guides infrastructure investment priorities.
  • Infrastructure Investment - Shows where bridges, underpasses, or crossings would expand access and justifies investments in connectivity improvements.

Important Notes

Data Source: This analysis uses Mapbox's Isochrone API, which relies on OpenStreetMap data. Accuracy depends on OSM data completeness and quality in each location.

Walking Speed Assumption: Analysis assumes a 3 mph average walking speed, which is standard for pedestrian planning.

Network-Based Only: Walksheds reflect street network connectivity but do not account for sidewalk presence or quality, crosswalk locations and signal timing, actual pedestrian safety or comfort, pedestrian age, physical fitness, or ability, topography (hills, stairs), or time of day, day of the week, weather conditions or seasonal factors.

The 15-Minute Community

The "15-minute city" is the idea that daily life works best when everyday destinations — groceries, schools, parks, health care, food, and community life — are within a short walk of home. Transit stations are natural anchors for this ideal: a station surrounded by a complete, walkable neighborhood multiplies the value of every trip. This page maps 14 categories of everyday destinations around each station and measures how closely each station area approaches the 15-minute ideal.

The 14 everyday destination types measured on this page:

  • Supermarkets
  • Pharmacies
  • Banks & credit unions
  • Hospitals
  • Clinics
  • Dentists
  • Education (schools, universities, childcare)
  • Libraries
  • Parks
  • Community & fitness centers
  • Restaurants
  • Cafes
  • Bars & nightlife
  • Places of worship

The Four Station Metrics

  • Completeness (X of 14) — How many of the 14 destination categories have at least one option inside the 15-minute walkshed. This is the most direct measure of the 15-minute community: a station scoring 14/14 offers the full range of daily life on foot.
  • Abundance — The total number of destinations inside the walkshed. Two stations can both be "complete" while one offers a handful of options and the other hundreds. Abundance is best read through its national ranking, since raw counts also reflect how thoroughly an area has been mapped.
  • Proximity — The share of walkable destinations that sit within the 5-minute core. Ideal transit-oriented development clusters destinations tightly around the station rather than scattering them at the walkshed's edge.
  • Capture Rate — Of all destinations within the ¾-mile theoretical circle, the share actually reachable within a 15-minute walk. A low capture rate alongside a substantial number of nearby destinations is a signal that barriers — highways, rail corridors, rivers — are severing the station from its own neighborhood, and that infrastructure like bridges, crossings, or paths could unlock destinations that already exist.

Destinations shown in gray on the map fall outside the walkshed and tell two different stories. Those inside the ¾-mile circle are physically close but not walkable within 15 minutes — candidates for active transportation infrastructure improvements. Those beyond the circle offer a taste of what shared bikes, scooters, and other micromobility could bring within reach of the station; the map intentionally shows only a narrow band beyond the circle to keep the focus on the station walkshed.

Points of Interest Data

Destination data comes from OpenPOIs, an open dataset that combines and deduplicates points of interest from OpenStreetMap and the Overture Maps Foundation, refreshed monthly. Each place carries a model-estimated probability that it is still open and operating; this page includes only places with an estimated probability of 50% or higher, which filters out many closed businesses that linger in map databases.

Limitations to keep in mind:

  • Mapping density varies. National percentile rankings compare all stations in the Atlas, but OpenStreetMap and Overture coverage is denser in some regions than others. Part of any station's abundance ranking reflects how thoroughly its surroundings have been mapped, not only what exists on the ground.
  • Employment is not represented. Offices and workplaces do not translate cleanly into the destination taxonomy used here, so the 14 categories measure daily-life amenities rather than job access.
  • Counts are not quality. These metrics measure the presence and location of destinations, not how good, affordable, or welcoming they are.
  • A snapshot in time. Destination data reflects a specific monthly release and is refreshed periodically rather than in real time.

Attribution: Points of interest data © OpenStreetMap contributors and the Overture Maps Foundation, conflated by OpenPOIs (Henry Spatial Analysis), used under the Open Database License (ODbL).