Ashland's Comprehensive Plan - Transportation Element (extract):

"Ashland has a vision - to retain our small-town character even while we grow. To achieve this vision, we must proactively plan for a transportation system that is integrated into the community and enhances Ashland's livability, character and natural environment...The focus must be on people being able to move easily through the city in all modes of travel, Modal equity...ensures that we will have the opportunity to conveniently and safely use the transportation mode of our choice, and allow us to move toward a less auto-dependent community."

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Hans Monderman: Rethinking the design of streets and public space.

 Video: https://youtu.be/bjBGokenEhQ

An Urban Design London and Urban Design Group Lecture

Hans Monderman has been one of the most significant influences on the current debate about the design of streets and spaces in the UK. A traffic engineer and road safety specialist from Northern Holland, he is celebrated as the pioneer of shared space as a means to influence speed and driver behaviour. Monderman has been the inspiration behind scores of towns and villages which work without road markings, traffic signs, signals, kerbs, barriers and bollards. ‘Most engineers, when faced with a problem, try to add something,’ he says. ‘My instinct has always been to take something away.’ Following a short introduction by Rob Cowan, Hans explains his approach, work and experiences. Copyright: Esther Kurland. Director. Urban Design London

Shared Space: Dutch Woonerfs and Shopping Streets Explained



Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxFu6rUH9cY


Also:
Resources relating to shared space: Review of Hamilton-Baillie's 2003 paper "Urban design: Why don’t we do it in the road? Modifying traffic behavior through legible urban design" https://cyclingresearchreview.com/201...


Interview with Dick van Veen about "Mode-oriented Street Design": https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mode-o...


Bicycle Dutch blogs "Crowded cycleways lead to new urban design approach" https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/20...


Friday, May 22, 2020

Bristol reveals plans to pedestrianise historic centre in Covid-19 revamp

Mayor sees pandemic as chance to change travel habits and revitalise city
May 21 2020
A scheme to turn part of Bristol’s historic centre into a pedestrian-only zone within months has been set out as part of plans to change how people get around the city during and after the Covid-19 crisis.
The city council hopes that by the end of the summer a tranche of the Old City area – which includes restaurants, cafes, independent shops and Bristol crown court – will be free of traffic...

Saturday, May 09, 2020

The UK government is urging the public to walk and cycle to work instead of using public transport or driving.

How we will travel while maintaining social distancing is one of the biggest challenges the government faces as it seeks to start to lift the lockdown.
It has led communities, UK transport groups and public health experts to call for radical changes - some already happening globally - such as wider pavements, traffic restrictions and cycle networks.
Such changes would prevent further waves of infections, improve air quality and public health, and help countries achieve their climate goals, they say.
The decline in road use during the lockdown has seen dramatic falls in air pollution - an unforeseen benefit of the pandemic - as well as quieter roads for cycling.

BBC News 5/9/20   https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52524807

Council approves Healthy Streets program to ease crowding on sidewalks, trails

“In neighborhoods that are lucky enough to have sidewalks, people are crowding onto 5-foot pathways next to 40-foot roads,” said Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison. “This effort isn’t just about the benefit of joggers and cyclists – it’s about people in wheelchairs who need to safely get to the pharmacy; it’s about grocery store clerks and health workers who need to get to their bus stops.”

Friday, May 8, 2020 by Ryan Thornton
https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2020/05/council-approves-healthy-streets-program-to-ease-crowding-on-sidewalks-trails/

Friday, May 08, 2020

Seattle will permanently close 20 miles of residential streets to most vehicle traffic


May 7, 2020

Nearly 20 miles of Seattle streets will permanently close to most vehicle traffic by the end of May, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced Thursday.

The streets had been closed temporarily to through traffic to provide more space for people to walk and bike at a safe distance apart during the coronavirus pandemic.

Now the closures will continue even after Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-at-home order is lifted.


A pedestrian crosses East Columbia Street in the Central District, which is closed to through traffic to give people space to walk and bike.  (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)

Sunday, May 03, 2020

City leaders aim to shape green recovery from coronavirus crisis

Mayors coordinating efforts to support a low-carbon, sustainable path out of lockdowns
A cyclist in a new bike lane in Milan
A cyclist in a new bike lane in Milan. 
The city has introduced one of Europe’s most ambitious cycling and walking schemes. 
Photograph: Roberto Finizio/Getty Images
...Many cities have already announced measures, from hundreds of miles of new bike lanes in Milan and Mexico City to widening pavements and pedestrianising neighbourhoods in New York and Seattle.
The initiatives are designed to allow people to move around urban spaces safely in a world where physical distancing will be the norm for the foreseeable future – and do so without sparking a drastic increase in air pollution...

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Streetscape patios for Ashland ?

One opportunity to enhance Ashland’s streetscape is in the downtown core with temporary and/or permanent streetscape patios.    
The downtown core already has a strong existing base of restaurants, businesses, and greenspace.   Adding to it will help continue economic prosperity for downtown businesses while maintaining the small town charm and character that helps attracts visitors to Ashland.  Streetscape patios are patios that extend the width of sidewalk to provide space for restaurants to provide outdoor seating and boutiques or other businesses to set‐up small displays similar to what might be seen at an open air marketplace...

See White Paper prepared for Ashland Trandpotation System Plan  [2011]





L.A. needs more street space for walking

By THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD   APRIL 18, 2020

...Angelenos shouldn’t have to navigate this social distancing obstacle course. There’s plenty of lightly used space available at this very moment that could be dedicated to exercise and the pursuit of fresh air. It’s right there, in the middle of the street...
...COVID-19 creates an unprecedented opportunity to experiment. Before, ambitious projects to slow speeding cars and make streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists were dropped after commuters complained. Now? It’s quite possible that walkers and bikers outnumber drivers at the moment. There’s a constituency of homebound people desperately craving outdoor space...

see article: L.A. needs more street space for walking


Mapping How Cities Are Reclaiming Street Space

To help get essential workers around, cities are revising traffic patterns, suspending public transit fares, and making more room for bikes and pedestrians.

"The fight against coronavirus has brought cities to a standstill. With roughly one third of the global population under lockdown, vehicle traffic has all but vanished on the world’s busiest roads and highways. Public transit ridership in global metros has dropped by more than 80% since early January. For residents in one U.S. city, Seattle, the average daily travel distance has gone from the length of the Las Vegas Strip to that of a bowling alley..."


Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Oslo's car ban sounded simple enough. Then the backlash began...

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jun/13/oslo-ban-cars-backlash-parking

When Oslo decided to be the first European city to ban cars from its centre, businesses protested. So the city did the next best thing: it banned parking

...Even the shopkeeper’s association is happier. “We’ve participated in numerous meetings and have come up with the idea that the best thing would be to carefully change things street by street,” says Schieldrop. “Make every street a success, and then celebrate the transformation. Success is totally dependent on the participation of shops and cafes – no one will sit on a bench in an empty street.”...

Friday, June 02, 2017

Traffic in Villages -

- Safety and Civility for Rural Roads - A toolkit for communities

http://www.hamilton-baillie.co.uk/_files/_publications/50-1.pdf

"Cars and lorries are part of our lives, for better or worse. Maintaining and protecting the quality of life against a background of growing traffic volumes is perhaps the greatest challenge facing most rural communities. Rural life depends on the highway network for connections and communication. Many villages lie along the route of busy country roads. Modern travel patterns and transport place huge pressures on the historic form and qualities of the rural landscape, threatening the economic sustainability and social cohesion upon which communities depend. It is a problem that is universal to village life in the modern world..."

Streets and village spaces have always served a multitude of purposes. Ever increasing traffic during the past century has created an imbalance at the cost of social and economic life. It is only recently that new models for shared space have begun to emerge, principally in cities and larger market towns. The principles illustrated by more complex urban schemes are still relevant for more modest rural application despite the very different context. 

Sunday, October 09, 2016

The Traffic Guru


by Tom Vanderbilt -  author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)

Published 2008 The Wilson Quarterly

[excerpt]

....The results were striking. Without bumps or flashing warning signs, drivers slowed, so much so that [Hans} Monderman’s radar gun couldn’t even register their speeds. Rather than clarity and segregation, he had created confusion and ambiguity. Unsure of what space belonged to them, drivers became more accommodating. Rather than give drivers a simple behavioral mandate—say, a speed limit sign or a speed bump—he had, through the new road design, subtly suggested the proper course of action. And he did something else. He used context to change behavior. He had made the main road look like a narrow lane in a village, not simply a traffic-way through some anonymous town...."



Sunday, August 07, 2016

Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars


Modern cities are ruled by cars. Streets are designed for them; bikers, pedestrians, vendors, hangers-out, and all other forms of human life are pushed to the perimeter in narrow lanes or sidewalks. Truly shared spaces are confined to parks and the occasional plaza. This is such a fundamental reality of cities that we barely notice it any more.
Some folks, however, still cling to the old idea that cities are for people, that more common space should be devoted to living in the city rather than getting through it or around it.
But once you’ve got a city that’s mostly composed of street grids, devoted to moving cars around, how do you take it back? How can cities be reclaimed for people?
The city of Barcelona has come up with one incredibly clever solution to that problem...

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Parking-Free Street Revamp Boosts Sales, Will Expand

by 
Friday, June 12, 2015

Two years after the city gave Fisherman’s Wharf a people-friendly redesign on two blocks of Jefferson Street, business is booming. Despite merchants’ fears that removing all car parking on the blocks would hurt their sales, they now say it had the opposite effect....
...In June 2013, the two blocks of Jefferson between Hyde and Jones Streets were made safer and calmer with wider sidewalks, textured pavement to calm motor traffic, and the removal of curbside car parking. One-way traffic was also converted to two-way.
Since then, sales on the street have risen. TheFisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District surveyed 18 of the 33 businesses on those blocks, and they reported month-over-month gross sales increases between 10 to 21 percent on average


“People are staying longer and spending more money,” said Troy Campbell, executive director of the Fisherman’s Wharf CBD. “Drivers are a little more cautious, I would say.”
Removing car parking to widen sidewalks provided more room for crowds and made storefronts more visible, said Campbell. “You look down the street, and you don’t have a string of cars that are part of the landscape. The businesses become the landscape.”
“A lot of the merchants came back to me and said, you know what, I thought losing the parking was going to be a problem, but I feel like people can actually see my windows now, and they’re engaging with us more.”:

Friday, May 22, 2015

A Common Sense of Place

What are streets for? What story should they tell? Featuring Ben Hamilton-Baillie. Produced by Martin Cassini in association with Maniac Films.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

How Bike Lanes & Shared Streets Pay for Themselves, and Then Some...

Forcing cars to share the road can yield tangible economic returns fast, new study finds.

Saturday, March 07, 2015

People & Traffic in Llan - Crowdfunding for change

"Everyone grumbles about Castle Street. Drivers in a hurry to get through would like all parking banned, pedestrians would like safe crossings, shopkeepers need to load and unload and want more parking for their customers, tourists want a pleasant place to stroll.
At the moment we have the worst of all possible solutions, some legal parking, some illegal parking, double yellows down one side giving motorists the illusion of a clear road - until they meet a large vehicle coming the other way, and pedestrians running the gauntlet. The only good thing is that it's so chaotic the traffic is often slow and there haven't been any serious accidents. There have been a lot of near-misses, minor bumps and startled pedestrians. Relying on poor traffic management to keep people safe isn't really a sensible policy..."
Breaking news: 
Crowdfunding target for Llangollen road survey reached !




Sunday, December 07, 2014

Preston, UK extends its "Shared Space"


“The project will continue the shared space that has already been created, by designing areas that are less dominated by traffic and friendlier for pedestrians.
“The project is not about pedestrianising Fishergate but will reduce traffic flow and create a more attractive, less cluttered, “shared space”, with better pedestrian links between key parts of the city centre.”
Westerly view of the completed new look Fishergate with it's 'shared space' highway

Friday, December 05, 2014

Reimagining Jay Street (Brooklyn, NY) With Shared Space and Protected Bike Lanes

by 
A shared space design would give pedestrians priority on Jay Street near MetroTech. Image: Street Plans Collaborative for Transportation Alternatives
...Today, lots of people cross Jay near MetroTech, but the crosswalks and stop lights don’t always match the numerous pedestrian desire lines. The TA report suggests changing the street’s design to be more akin to shared space, where pedestrians are given more leeway and drivers no longer rely on markings and stop lights to navigate the street....

More at: http://www.streetsblog.org/2014/11/21/shared-space-protected-bike-lanes-on-the-table-in-downtown-brooklyn/

Saturday, July 05, 2014

Managing transport risks: what works?

"What does a transport safety regulator have in common with a shaman conducting a rain dance? 

They both have an inflated opinion of the effectiveness of their interventions in the functioning of the complex interactive systems they purport to influence or control..."

More at: http://john-adams.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Management-of-the-risks-of-transport2.pdf

Shared Space on YouTube

Videos about Shared Space at  https://www.youtube.com/user/Sharedspace

e.g. Introduction to Shared Space (1 of 2) http://is.gd/8uzGP0

       Introduction to Shared Space (2 of 2)  http://is.gd/ozPF2L
      

Talking Shared Space With Ben Hamilton-Baillie

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Traffic Control: An Exercise in Self-Defeat* by Kenneth Todd

"...Statutes generally set penalties to reinforce common law obligations and discourage negligent acts. Right-of-way rules do the opposite. They diminish the main-street driver’s responsibility and place an extra burden on those who want to cross. Every day people are killed or injured because the law encourages the motorist to defy the most elementary safety rules and travel at high speed on urban arterial roads and intersections without looking for other traffic..Advertised as a panacea for all traffic ills in its early days, the traffic signal turned out to be one of those medicines that cures one disease and gives you another. It has been known since the late 1920s that signals reduce right-angle accidents at the cost of causing more rear-end and left-turn collisions. They first compress an hour's traffic into half an hour of green time and thereby halve all headways. They then make drivers go fast and keep close to the vehicle in front for fear of missing the green light, with their eyes up in the air rather than on the road. The combination of high speed, tailgating, diverted attention and sudden stops causes rear-end crashes..."

[more]
http://www.bikewalk.org/pdfs/trafficcontrol_backtobasics.pdf

Kenneth Todd is a retired engineer in Washington DC.
His work is referenced in:

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Don’t treat drivers like idiots, says urban expert

25th July 2013 in Oxford Mail, UK
A LEADING street designer has made suggestions on how St Giles could be improved for pedestrians.
Ben Hamilton-Baillie gave a talk on Tuesday night to a special joint meeting of cycling society Cyclox and Oxford Pedestrians’ Association (OXPA) about the potential pedestrianisation of St Giles.
The “urban design and movement” expert was previously commissioned by Oxford University in 2007 to draw up plans to show how the Parks Road-South Parks Road junction by the natural history museum could be opened up as a shared space for pedestrians, cyclists and cars, although the designs were never taken forward.
He specialises in European-style shared road space schemes, which involves the removal of road signs which “treat drivers like idiots”.
Instead, different coloured road surfaces and visual cues such as brickwork are used to encourage drivers to slow down, making roads less dangerous.
They can then be used by cars, cyclists and pedestrians at the same time. He suggested a number of possible ways that St Giles could be improved.
At the meeting in Oxford Town Hall, Mr Hamilton-Baillie said: “St Giles is an unusually wide street, historically used to drive cattle into town.
“At the moment, it is uncomfortable, the ways traffic use the space and the rather inconsequential median strip.”
He said that if he was redesigning it, he would consider using the boulevard style of widened pavements that give pedestrians more space.
In an hour-long talk to members of the two groups, Mr Hamilton-Baillie talked about the changing use of streets over time from traditional trading spaces.
He explained how in the internet age people no longer need to go into towns to shop so attracting visitors is as much about the visual appeal of a space.
In an Oxford Mail survey in November, 85 per cent of vehicles were clocked breaking the 20mph speed limit on St Giles.
Cyclox member Sue Rowe, of Iffley Road, moved to Oxford because she liked the cycling culture, but said she feels intimidated cycling along St Giles.
“We would like to get good ideas of how Oxford can be made friendlier,” she said.
“I have only just moved to Oxford but I had to struggle to find out where to go while cycling on St Giles.
“I think it would probably be better to narrow the road area and widen the pedestrian area.”
The meeting was chaired by OXPA chairwoman Sushila Dhall.
She said: “We are trying to take forward the idea of widening the pedestrian bit of St Giles, which we think is one of Oxford’s most beautiful squares.
“What we all want to have is an improved city experience.”
Mr Hamilton-Baillie concluded his talk with a warning that “any scheme is uncomfortable in its first six months.”
He also told the meeting: “You have to have a politician with vision [to take the scheme forward].”

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Ashland, OR considers Woonerf for new Master Plan

The revised street network as presented includes a new street designation called a “Woonerf”. 
“Woonerf” is a Dutch term translated as “living street” which functions as shared public space for pedestrians, cyclists and for intermittent slow-moving, cautiously driven, automobiles. Limited parking opportunities may also be considered in the design of a Woonerf . The revised street network envisions such shared spaces along the riparian corridors to serve primarily as pedestrian and bicycle circulation, while maintaining an opportunity for limited local resident car circulation and fire apparatus access and staging areas. The introduction of Woonerfs into the potential street classifications for the plan area helps address a number of objectives that were raised in prior meetings. The primacy of pedestrians and cyclists in the design of a Woonerf helps establish public pathways along the riparian corridors and wetland features. Woonerfs are typically designed to have significantly less pavement than streets by providing a narrow 12ft wide driving surface meandering within a 20ft wide right of way. This allows for greater storm water retention and the slowing of surface water runoff which is a valuable design consideration in the immediate proximity of sensitive riparian and wetland areas. 

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Poynton - Update

15th June 2013
( See previous Video post - Poynton Regenerated , below )
Poynton was selected as runner-up, with a "highly commended" citation, at the annual CIHT awards event on 13 June 2013. The scheme by the City of London for Cheapside was selected as overall winner.
 Of Poynton, the judging panel commented:-
"The judges considered that this was an extremely courageous scheme which has succeeded in achieving significant economic and social benefits through the enhancement of ‘place’ whilst continuing to provide a route for significant volumes of traffic."

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Poynton Regenerated

by Martin Cassini A community in decline, divided by decades of anti-social traffic engineering, is reunited and revitalised by streetscape redesign. Ben Hamilton-Baillie describes his latest "shared Space" success.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Traffic control - the road to nowhere?

Martin Cassini video - A recut of existing material with an update and some previously unseen footage about the Portishead lights-off trial (it went permanent after journey times fell by over half with no loss of pedestrian safety)

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

'Fewer injuries' in Ashford shared space road scheme

A scheme where pedestrians and car users share the same space has resulted in fewer accidents, according to Kent County Council (KCC). The scheme, which turned Ashford's ring road into streets where drivers and pedestrians have equal priority, has been in place since November 2008. Figures released by the authority show there has been a 41% drop in accidents in which people have been injured. Critics have argued the scheme is dangerous to blind people. Under the scheme, signs, traffic lights and pavements were removed... ...The architect behind the scheme, Ben Hamilton-Baillie, said: "The worst fears that the accident rate would increase have not been born out by the figures. "It's certainly safer - the difficulty with any scheme like this is that it increases the slight sense of risk and discomfort in order to achieve that safety. "So people inevitably have some hesitation and nervousness about mixing with traffic as it relies on establishing a relationship at low speeds, which makes it possible to cross the road." [more]

Friday, June 29, 2012

Sydney Builds Separate Bike Lanes, Ridership Skyrockets 82%

by Brian Merchant for Treehugger.com New research on cycling habits is in from Sydney, and it turns out that city dwellers are less likely to start biking if they're afraid a lumbering SUV might crush their back tire or that errant car doors will send them over their handlebars. Who knew? [more]

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Shared Space pedestrian and traffic interaction, Bern, Switzerland

"Free-flowing pedestrian and traffic flows along this busy suburban arterial route into Bern. illustrates the potential for improving pedestrian flows where a low-speed traffic environment has been created. Road carries over 20,000 vehicles per day. First three years of this and similar schemes have seen traffic flows improve, pedestrian delays reduced and significant improvements in accident rates. All former signal-controlled pedestrian crossings were removed."[Ben Hamilton-Baillie and Fritz Kobi] [Note the children's play structure with bouncing kids at the roundabout in the background. Also the emergency vehicle @ 4:23 min. shows how the pedestriam median refuge is mountable in emergencies. ]

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Sonnenfelsplatz - Shared Space

Graz, Austria. Sonnenfelsplatz A remodelled junction near the University that handles around 15,000 vehicles per day, including significant numbers of buses. Over 3,000 pedestrians an hour cross the space, together with 650 cyclists.

Shared Space - Deal, Kent

Ideas to spruce up a section of the Deal promenade, after the sea defence works are finished, are being backed by the community. Deal and Walmer Chamber of Trade is giving the project moral support to the Shared Space project, which is being master-minded by town councillors Ian Killbery and Bob Frost. Chamber spokesman Andy Stevens said: "It is a truly exciting proposal which we hope will gain  some real impetus. "It is inspirational to rethink the use of the space between Deal Pier and the Royal Hotel - think  ‘phase two’ of the successful Beach Street piazza outside the King’s Head, Port Arms and Dunkerley’s. "Except this time as a shared space that people and traffic can use, offering a real opportunity for al fresco cafe culture on that part of the seafront." Cllr Killbery said the beach defence work this summer prompted the Shared Space idea and it is backed by the Dover District Cycle Forum as the area is part of the Sustrans bicycle route through Deal. Fellow campaigner Cllr Frost said: "I have been really pleased with the amount of support from people from all sections of the Deal community for our proposals. "They will provide adequate comfort space and seating of benefit to all while reducing the impact of motor vehicles, making the environment attractive to pedestrians and cyclists by cutting vehicle speeds due to the inherent ambiguity in the design allied with visual narrowing." http://www.kentonline.co.uk/east_kent_mercury/news/2012/may/17/shared_space_project.aspx

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Shared space concept to lift lower Brougham St

- Taranaki Daily News (NZ)
A $1 million redevelopment of New Plymouth's dingy lower Brougham St will put cars and pedestrians on the same level.

From March next year much of the street between Devon St and Ariki St will become a single level shared space for cars, pedestrians, cyclists and even skateboarders.

The redevelopment is to be funded from the council's $3.71m model walking and cycling community grant and will create a type of space increasingly used in street renewals around the world.

"We've taken notes from similar street redevelopments in central Auckland where there aren't separate spaces for traffic and pedestrians, but rather a shared space which has resulted in an open, fresh-feeling public area where once there was just a road," said Let's Go project manager Carl Whittleston.

"We are trying to makes this space pedestrian-friendly but we're not seeking to keep vehicles out."

To achieve this shared space concept, defined footpaths are gone and seating areas, planter boxes and a green space determine where cars and people can go.

A single lane of road will remain for buses turning right out of King St and parking spaces will still be provided for library users.

Mr Whittleston expected the design to be completed in January with plans put up for display in Puke Ariki. All going well, construction will start in March next year.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Coventry: Shared Space Video

Blind man slams Coventry 'shared space' junctions

By Tina JundayNov 23 2011

...Coventry City Council has ditched traffic lights in eight busy junctions and put in 20mph speed limits to give drivers and pedestrians equal priority as part of a “shared space” scheme.

Council leaders say the schemes will lead to road users paying more attention and make the city centre safer, more attractive and pedestrian-friendly. But Jim Smallman, aged 62, of Green Lane, Finham, says the European-style changes have created “no-go areas” for the blind.



Read More http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2011/11/23/blind-man-slams-coventry-shared-space-junctions-92746-29827275/#ixzz1eaBb4icJ

Friday, November 11, 2011

Exhibition Road Shared Space now open

A farewell to pavements
Is it a mad idea to turn roads and pavements into one great big shared space? London's grandest cultural artery will shortly find out

By Justin McGuirk
guardian.co.uk

"...Roads and pavements are rules, keeping hard cars and soft pedestrians apart. Lane markings, pedestrian crossings and steel railings are another layer of rules. Do we really need such nannying? What if we relaxed the rules a little?

This is exactly what's happening at London's Exhibition Road, the great Victorian thoroughfare that stretches half a mile from South Kensington tube station to Hyde Park in London. In the last 18 months, it has been ripped up and remade to a new design that all but abolishes the distinction between road and pavement..."

[More]

Saturday, August 06, 2011

Really Sharing The Road Means Vibrant Urban Spaces

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Naked Street man wants to strip High Street bare

Kilkenny Advertiser, October 22, 2010.

By Naoise Coogan

Kilkenny had a visit from the Naked Street Consultant this week. Ben Hamilton Baillie was in Kilkenny at the invitation of the Kilkenny City Centre Business Association (KCCBA) to assess Kilkenny’s streetscapes and traffic management system.

Mr Hamilton Baillie is renowned for his radical and contemporary street layouts which includes the removal of signage, barriers, rails, speed limits and any other impediment that might obstruct the natural flow of both pedestrian and motorised traffic.

Unconventional as his views may be, Mr Hamilton Baillie has had his plans implemented in several other European cities including the Netherlands, France and of course his homeland in the UK.

Speaking to the Kilkenny Advertiser during his visit Mr Hamilton Baillie said that although he is not up to date on Kilkenny’s system, he is aware of other medieval cities like Kilkenny that have implemented his street designs.

“I’m not a fan of one way systems personally. I don’t think they work very well. I really believe that if you change people’s mindsets, put the responsibility back on them to be careful that they accept this responsibility with gusto and this makes the streets a safer place.

“For example, a signalled pedestrian crossing has been proven to be two-and-a-half times more dangerous than no pedestrian crossing at all. This is because the lights and signage dictate your behaviour, however, if you are required to analyse the safety of crossing the road yourself, you are much more likely to be more careful — it makes sense,” he said.

Mr Hamilton Baillie also met with the county manager, Joe Crockett, officials and some members of the council on Monday morning for a consultation. Mr Crockett said that the concepts were interesting but at this point there were no definite plans determined for Kilkenny’s High Street.

“We are awaiting a report to be returned from WIT on research carried out on the affect of the one way system on businesses in the city and until we get this data, we really won’t know what we will do.”

The one way system trial was officially up after six months and business people are adamant that it has had a negative affect on their businesses. Some 100 people attended a meeting some two weeks ago organised by the KCCBA to voice their concerns, and this week more business people came along to a presentation by Mr Hamilton Baillie on his radical concept for traffic management.

“It’s customers that are saying to us that it is simply too difficult to get in and out of the city. They psychologically can’t get their head around having to drive all the way around the city to get to where they want to go because they cannot turn right from Bateman Quay onto Rose Inn Street and then they cannot drive up the High Street. We need to start from scratch and design a new plan for the city centre as the one in place is simply not working and this can be seen by almost every business in the city,” said Phil Walsh CEO of Goods on the High Street.

Cllr Betty Manning who is also a business person trading on the High Street was also adamant that something new needed to be done to sort out the problems and that the council needed to heed the voice of local business who made up the heart of Kilkenny city.

There will be several meetings of the council members and officials before a resolution is decided upon, and whether Mr Hamilton Baillie will be commissioned to design a new concept for Kilkenny’s High Street. Until then, the one-way system remains in place and Kilkenny businesses continue to count their losses.

Meanwhile pedestrians are happier and feel more confident and comfortable on the High Street as it feels safer and is less congested than before.

Friday, December 04, 2009

Birmingham Mail - News - Top Stories - Residents plead for road safety

Birmingham Mail - News - Top Stories - Residents plead for road safety

Birmingham UK - Residents plead for road safety

RESIDENTS of a Birmingham suburb today demanded urgent road safety improvements after five people were killed in two road death tragedies.
The safety calls were made in Moseley after a pensioner and four boys died in two separate incidents last month.

Teresa Queenan was in collision with a lorry as she crossed the junction of Alcester Road and Salisbury Road on November 9 while four boys died when the car in which they were travelling hit a wall in Salisbury Road on November 14.

Now, the Moseley Forum group has demanded a so-called shared space scheme in the suburb as soon as possible.



Shared space schemes integrate public spaces by removing the traditional segregation of vehicles, pedestrians and other road users.

The aim is to remove barriers, including road signs, bollards and lights, between car and pedestrian to turn the street into a self-regulated area used by all.

It has been pioneered with some success in Holland and is being introduced in various part of the United Kingdom.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

It IS happening here !

Not quite the sign-free "Shared Space" - but it's a beginning:
Bikes, cars share Oak Street
New 'sharrows' signs on pavement give notice

By John Darling, For the Ashland Daily Tidings, November 18, 2009

"...Oak Street officially became the city's first "shared roadway" this week when crews laid thermoplastic signs on the pavement between Lithia Way and Nevada Street..."

[more]

Monday, October 19, 2009

Traffic light failure reduces jams

TRAFFIC light failure at one of Winchester’s busiest junctions produced a surprise result – fewer jams. [ Hampshire Chronicle 18th October 2009 ]

The fault occurred early on Tuesday (October 13) where Southgate Street meets High Street.

The bottleneck often forces drivers to queue for several hundred yards along Southgate Street and the city’s one-way system.

Yet there were only a handful of vehicles on both sides of the junction while the lights were broken. There were also no reports of accidents.

Nearby traders, who see the jams on a daily basis, said the traffic was much lighter.

Matt Lunney, a negotiator at Pearsons estate agents in Southgate Street, noticed the difference.

He said: “Everything is settling down and there’s only been one or two people going a bit too fast along Southgate Street.

“The traffic isn’t too bad. It often goes back a fair way from here but that doesn’t seem to have happened this morning.”

Across the road, Susan Whyman runs the Childhood’s Dream toyshop, and said traffic was flowing freely.

She said: “I drove through it to get to work this morning. There doesn’t seem to be any trouble outside but I’m not sure if it would stay that way if a large truck came around the corner.”

Along with lorries, many buses also use the junction, including the Bluestar 1 service to Southampton.

Alan Weeks of the Winchester City Residents’ Association often rides the bus into town, and went through the affected junction. While vehicles were doing fine, he said it was risky for pedestrians.

“The people crossing the road were taking their life in their hands, as there weren’t any gaps in the traffic,” he said.

Winchester Friends of the Earth spokesman, Chris Gillham, said they wanted pedestrians to have more priority over cars.

One idea to achieve this in Winchester is ‘shared space’, which includes reducing street furniture.

Mr Gillham said they would support having fewer traffic lights, not just as part of the scheme, but to reduce street clutter too.

County council engineers fixed the fault before Tuesday evening’s rush hour. Traffic returned to normal the next day, with longer queues.

The county council was asked if it might consider switching them back off as an experiment, but it said it would compromise pedestrian safety.

Apart from the Southgate Street lights, there are nine further sets on Winchester’s one-way system in Union, Eastgate, Upper Brook, St George’s and Jewry Streets, along with North Walls and Friarsgate.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Verkeersbordvrij

European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs By Matthias Schulz for Der Spiegel

A project implemented by the European Union is currently seeing seven cities and regions clear-cutting their forest of traffic signs. A project implemented by the European Union is currently seeing seven cities and regions clear-cutting their forest of traffic signs...The utopia has already become a reality in Makkinga, in the Dutch province of Western Frisia. A sign by the entrance to the small town (population 1,000) reads "Verkeersbordvrij" -- "free of traffic signs." Cars bumble unhurriedly over precision-trimmed granite cobblestones. Stop signs and direction signs are nowhere to be seen. There are neither parking meters nor stopping restrictions. There aren't even any lines painted on the streets...[more]

Drachten is one of the pioneer towns for such schemes. Accident figures at one junction where traffic lights were removed have dropped from thirty-six in the four years prior to the introduction of the scheme to two in the two years following it. Only three of the original fifteen sets of traffic lights remain. Tailbacks (traffic jams) are now almost unheard of at the town's main junction, which handles about 22,000 cars a day [more]

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Anarcho Traffic Management: is it the Future?

by The Bristol Blogger 1/18/08

[Monderman]...also claimed that congestion, traffic jams and the rush-hour would be alleviated if not completely eliminated by removing all these state traffic regulations. He further argued that if traffic is slowed down it will actually move quicker.
At the heart of shared space lies the idea of integration. This contrasts with the traditional town planning practices of segregation, where traffic and people must be ruthlessly seperated. Monderman’s attitude - which is well worth Bristol City Council taking on board - was:
“If you treat drivers like idiots, they act as idiots. Never treat anyone in the public realm as an idiot, always assume they have intelligence.”
Of course for much of his life Monderman was himself treated as a dangerous idiot by traditional traffic experts, civil engineers and the huge and powerful corporate vested interests behind them. But where his ideas have been tried such as in his home town of Friesland, Holland and in Scandinavia they have been highly successful...

...Could this be the ideal place for the city to create a shared space scheme? What’s there to lose? If it fails then our traffic engineer traditionalists can lovingly recreate their pensioner death trap again in a few years time anyway. [more]