Deniz Huseyin 11 April 2022 20mph road markings act as a `clear reminder` to drivers Kensington & Chelsea council is to make 20mph the default speed limit across all its roads in the borough after positive public feedback to pilot schemes. An initial pilot in two wards in 2019 “generally received widescale support, with few objections and several requests for expanding the 20mph speed limit to other streets and areas”, said the council. The results of some early ‘after’ monitoring at ten sites in February 2020. :excerptend link to original article
DfT warns councils: ‘No funding for substandard active travel plans – transportxtra.com
Deniz Huseyin – 12 April 2022
West Sussex County Council prematurely removed the temporary cycle lane in Shoreham-by-Sea, says the DfT
Local authorities that fail to deliver good quality active travel schemes should expect funding to be withheld, the DfT has warned. This follows the announcement that the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead would not now receive the indicative funding it had been allocated.
A DfT spokesman told LTT: “We have always made clear that local authorities’ performance and quality of bids would be taken into consideration for determining future funding.
Plans for £500M bypass rejected as ‘old world solution’ | New Civil Engineer newcivilengineer.com
Councillors have rejected plans for a major bypass linking the M60 and A6 on environmental grounds.
The scheme was slated for inclusion within the final version of the Stockport Economic Strategy, however was pulled after councillors voted against it.
The proposed £500M bypass would have created a ring road around Stockport and was aimed at alleviating congestion problems in the area.
Stockport Council’s previous attempts to get funding from the government for the bypass failed in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
The Labour-run council has now had a change of heart towards the scheme and has rejected it over concerns about its impact on wildlife.
Labour leader Elise Wilson said the road was an “old world solution”. Conservative councillor Oliver Johnstone said the decision was “very frustrating”, while Liberal Democrat councillor Mark Hunter described the decision as a “major surprise”.
12 Best Electric Bikes (2022): Affordable, Cargo, Folding, Commuter, and More – wired.com
Adrienne So
In a time of multiple global crises—like the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, and the threat of nuclear war—it’s hard not to feel helpless. If you’re a grown-up who can’t quite think of what to do to make anything better, I have a simple suggestion: Hop on a bike. And whether they rented one from a bike share or bought their own, millions of Americans agree.
For years, electric bicycles were bulky, inconvenient, expensive machines with limited battery life. Slowly, that has changed. Ebikes are now lighter, more attractive, and more powerful than ever. You don’t need to be physically fit to ride one. They get you outside, reduce traffic congestion, and shrink your carbon footprint. And they’re fun!
23/9/20) Electric cars won’t solve our pollution problems – Britain needs a total transport rethink | George Monbiot theguardian.com
George Monbiot
Like several of the world’s major cities, our capital is being remodelled in response. The London mayor – recognising that, while fewer passengers can use public transport, a switch to cars would cause gridlock and lethal pollution – has set aside road space for cycling and walking. Greater Manchester hopes to build 1,800 miles of protected pedestrian and bicycle routes.
Cycling to work is described by some doctors as “the miracle pill”, massively reducing the chances of early death: if you want to save the NHS, get on your bike. But support from central government is weak and contradictory, and involves a fraction of the money it is spending on new roads. The major impediment to a cycling revolution is the danger of being hit by a car.
However a car is powered, can it ever be an efficient use of resources and space to spend up to 95% of that energy moving the weight of the vehicle itself – theconversation.com
“However a car is powered, can it ever be an efficient use of resources and space to spend up to 95% of that energy moving the weight of the vehicle itself, rather than its passengers and goods?”
Labour split by leadership call for action against climate crisis blockades | Labour | The Guardian
Plea by shadow justice secretary Steve Reed for nationwide bans on activists’ tactics angers many on left of party
Michael Savage
Labour faces an escalating internal row over the treatment of climate crisis protesters after a shadow cabinet minister backed calls for nationwide injunctions to stop them blocking critical roads and fuel supplies.
Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, called for immediate and wide-ranging bans on protesters’ tactics to be put in place last week. Reed said ministers should “get on with their jobs” and block further action from the Just Stop Oil group after about 40 arrests were made at Inter Terminals in Grays, Essex, last Monday. Others were arrested at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire.
XR scientists glue hands to business department in London climate protest | Environmental activism | The Guardian
Affiliates of Scientists for Extinction Rebellion highlight climate science they say government is ignoring
Damien Gayle
Climate protesters enter Shell HQ and glue themselves to government building – video
Twenty-five scientists have pasted pages of scientific papers to the windows of the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and glued their hands to the glass to highlight the climate science they said the government was ignoring.
The scientists, affiliated with Scientists for Extinction Rebellion, arrived at the department’s building at 1 Victoria Street, Westminster, London, just after 11am. Doctors and health professionals staged a decoy action to give them space to get into position.
The action came a week after the government published a new energy strategy that promised to continue the exploitation of North Sea oil and gas, failed to set targets for onshore wind, and gave nuclear power a central role.
Re-think city transport… says IPCC – transportxtra.com
Deniz Huseyin 12 April 2022
Significant change to transport will be essential if the worst impacts of climate change are not to become irreversible, the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) has warned.
Measures must be introduced now to create more connected and less car-dependent cities, encouraging homeworking and active travel and accelerating the shift to electric vehicles, it says.
Imperial College London’s Professor Jim Skea is co-chair of Working Group III, the group of 278 authors responsible for the report. “It’s now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5°C,” he said. “Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible.”
The Congestion Con – Transportation For America – t4america.org
How more lanes and more money equals more congestion
In an expensive effort to curb congestion in urban regions, we have overwhelmingly prioritised one strategy: we have spent decades and hundreds of billions of dollars widening and building new highways. We added 30,511 new freeway lane-miles of road in the largest 100 urbanised areas between 1993 and 2017, an increase of 42%.