Joan FausAugust 4, 2021 BARCELONA, Aug 4 (Reuters)
Originally described as provisional by city authorities, the changes are still in place a year later despite opposition from some business groups.
More is to come under a plan to convert 21 streets, totalling 33 km (20 miles), into pedestrian green spaces.
The project illustrates how the pandemic has influenced urban planning across the world, accelerating changes such as more bike lanes and fewer cars amid growing concern about climate change.
Since March 2020, Barcelona has reclaimed around eight hectares of the cityscape from motor vehicles, transforming it into sidewalks, playgrounds, bike lanes or restaurant terraces, with authorities arguing that people need more space to avoid COVID-19.
Along with Paris, which has also been creating more bike lanes, Barcelona has aggressively exploited the pandemic to embrace an urban overhaul.
UK government considering e-bike trial scheme | Cyclingnews
The UK government wants to increase e-bike usage in England. The government is considering funding a scheme that would allow people to test ride e-bikes at events and popular holiday locations throughout the country.
The rationale is that once people experience an e-bike for themselves, they are more likely to buy one.
The Guardian newspaper recently reported that a business case was created about the plan for the Department of Transport, and the government will partner with a third party to purchase the bikes and run the events during the summer and autumn at yet to be determined locations.
Government reinforces active travel agenda – transportxtra
A further £338m released to support active travel and changes to the Highway Code put pedestrians at the top of road user hierarchy
The revisions to road user hierarchy were announced by transport secretary Grant Shapps alongside a commitment to increase the cycling and walking budget announced at the Spending Review to £338m.
The infrastructure upgrades, changes to The Highway Code and new requirements to ensure that active travel schemes’ effects are properly assessed are among the raft of measures included as part of what the government is calling a Summer of Cycling and Walking.
Climate crisis: Scientists spot warning signs of Gulf Stream collapse | Climate change | The Guardian
A shutdown would have devastating global impacts and must not be allowed to happen, researchers say
Damian Carrington
Climate scientists have detected warning signs of the collapse of the Gulf Stream, one of the planet’s main potential tipping points.
The research found “an almost complete loss of stability over the last century” of the currents that researchers call the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). The currents are already at their slowest point in at least 1,600 years, but the new analysis shows they may be nearing a shutdown.
Wildfires burn out of control in Greece and Turkey as thousands flee | Wildfires | The Guardian
Protracted heatwave continues as flames threaten populated areas, electricity installations and historic sites
Thousands of people have fled wildfires that are burning out of control in Greece and Turkey, including a large blaze just north of Athens that left one person dead, as a protracted heatwave turned forests into tinderboxes and flames threatened populated areas, electricity installations and historical sites.
Turkey’s wildfires, described as the worst in decades, have swept through swathes of the southern coast for the past 10 days, killing eight people.
Removing active travel schemes could cost councils funding – transportxtra
Heaton-Harris letter insists cycle lanes and LTNs need to given time to bed in
Following a number of councils removing cycle lanes and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) in the face of vocal objections, transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris has formally written to the leaders of all English local authorities with transport responsibilities.
Heaton-Harris emphasises that active travel schemes supported by government funding need to be left in place long enough for their impacts to be properly monitored and assessed.
The letter, sent on Friday 30 July, warned councils that if cycling and walking schemes installed using central government money are hastily abandoned, this could affect future grants.
‘We really need to normalise cycling’ – BBC News
‘We really need to normalise cycling’
A cyclist has shared video of her ride on a bike path by a dual carriageway to highlight the kind of overgrown and unsafe routes she often faces.
Tips from the Netherlands on how to build a nation of cyclists – BBC News
As countries face pressure to reduce their carbon footprint, many climate experts recommend the promotion of cycling as an easy way to cut emissions.
Should police constables stop furious cyclists? – archive, 1896 | Cycling | The Guardian
To the editor of the Manchester Guardian,
Sir, – In your article of this morning, upon the right of a police constable forcibly to stop a cyclist, you say “It is most undesirable that constables should get it into their heads that they are at liberty to stop, without warning, every cyclist who seems to them to be riding too fast. The cyclist is clearly entitled to be warned, and ought to be warned before stronger measures are resorted to,” &c.
June 21) Step forward as DfT agrees roads policy review – Transport Action Network
Buried in the DfT’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan was a concession to review the National Policy Statement for National Networks (NPSNN). We first asked transport secretary Grant Shapps to do this in March 2020, sixteen months ago. We realised that the NPSNN, which was approved in 2014, meant no new roads could be challenged on climate change grounds. Since then, the Department for Transport have messed us and our lawyers around so much that we have had to threaten legal action not once but twice!
Membership
