Moving walkway

A moving walkway – also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, travolator, or travelator – is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane over a short to medium distance. They can be used by standing on them or walking on them, allowing users to cover that distance with less effort and/or more speed than by walking. They are commonly installed in pairs to provide transport in each direction. They are typically designed similarly to escalators and share much of the same underlying technology.

The first moving walkway debuted at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States as The Great Wharf Moving Sidewalk. Designed by architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee, it had two sections: one where passengers were seated, and one where they could stand or walk. It ran in a loop down the length of a lakefront pier to a casino.

Six years later, another moving walkway was presented to the public at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris as the Rue de l'Avenir. It consisted of three elevated platforms—the first stationary, the second moving at a moderate speed, and the third moving at about ten kilometers per hour (six miles per hour). These demonstrations likely inspired some of H. G. Wells' settings mentioned in the "Science Fiction" section below.

The Beeler Organization, a New York City consulting firm, proposed a Continuous Transit System with Sub-Surface Moving Platforms for Atlanta in 1924, with a design roughly similar to the Paris Exposition system. The proposed drive system used a linear induction motor. The system was not constructed.

The Speedwalk, the first commercial moving walkway in the United States was installed in 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey, inside the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Erie station at the Pavonia Terminal. Built by Goodyear, it was 84.5 meters (277 feet) long and moved up a 10% grade at 2.4 km/h (1.5 mph). It was removed a few years later when traffic patterns at the station changed.

The first moving walkway in an airport was installed in 1958 at Love Field in Dallas, Texas. On January 1, 1960, Tina Marie Brandon, age 2, was killed on the moving sidewalk.

Moving walkways generally move at a slower speed than a natural walking pace, and when people step onto one, they tend to slow their pace to compensate; thus moving walkways only minimally improve travel times and overall transport capacity.

Moving walkways are built in one of two basic styles: