Heavy traffic crowds out mixed use

04 April 2007

A fresh blow has been dealt to shared surface schemes, after the Manual for streets stated that removing footways so pedestrians and vehicles mingle would only work on the most lightly-trafficked streets.
The manual highlights new research undertaken for Transport for London which concluded that above 100 vehicles per hour, pedestrians treat the general path taken by vehicles as a carriageway, removing the need for motorists to take greater care. The warning against the potential of shared surface – or ‘shared space’ schemes – to create a new environment, also casts doubt on whether introducing a shared surface on Kensington’s busy Exhibition Road, as planned, would cut speeds to ‘below 20mph’.
In major conurbations, the guidance would restrict shared surface schemes to cul de sacs with no through-traffic. Kensington & Chelsea Cllr Daniel Moylan, proponent of Dutch-style, more minimalist traffic management, is currently seeking funding to implement the Exhibition Road scheme.
He told Surveyor: ‘There’s a clear tension in the manual between old-fashioned highways engineering and the new thinking. ‘Shared surface schemes have been successful in reducing traffic speeds and volumes on the Continent on busy thoroughfares.’ He urged further research, taking account of the evidence from the Netherlands.
Ben Hamilton-Baillie, another champion of shared surface, pointed out that ‘there are many, many examples’ where it had worked in the UK. The draft manual, more enthusiastic about shared surfaces, recommended that, ‘generally accepted’ for residential areas, they should be extended elsewhere. The draft highlighted a successful shared surface scheme at Seven Dials, in London’s Covent Garden, where traffic and pedestrians intermingle at a junction of seven roads. ‘There are far more than 100 vehicles per hour there,’ Hamilton-Baillie stressed.
TRL’s Stuart Reid, who led the manual for street research, defended the document’s stance. ‘We have to proceed on the basis of evidence, and that’s what latest research suggests.’ Most practitioners would want evidence the potential impact in the UK context, he stressed. Reid predicted that revisions of the manual would offer greater encouragement. ‘Come Manual for streets two, Exhibition Road may be operating very successfully, and we’d be able to cite that. There’ll always be early adapters.’

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