News from Elsewhere

Fearing red signs sent the wrong message, one resident created an alternative – and councils are taking note

Claire Hamlett Thu 3 Sep 2020
An alternative road sign is being adopted by communities around England to promote the benefits of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTN).

Finding that the official signs on the temporary barriers installed in her own LTN in Brixton, London, conveyed the wrong message, Sarah Berry and other local residentsdesigned a green sign reading “road open to” with icons showing pedestrians, a scooter user, a wheelchair user and a bicycle.

Jon HenleyThu 3 Sep 2020 14.51Billed by the economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, as a “big green recovery plan”, one-third of France’s major €100bn (£90bn) post-Covid economic stimulus package will be spent, in the government’s words, on “ecological transition” and “greening the economy”.

Another impressive piece of exceptional cycling infrastructure was opened in The Hague.

Mark Sutton28 August, 2020England and Wales’ Local Government Association has published a new report calling on couriers and small business to trade in vans for environmentally friendly cargo bikes specifically for “last mile” deliveries.Coming at a time when the cargo bike segment is racking up column inches due to trend changes for inner city logistics, the new report emphasises that commercial vehicle traffic is already back north of pre-pandemic levels and only likely to increase. This was illustrated earlier this week in a CI.N assessment of the traffic patterns, where vans and HGVs were indeed accelerating road use north of pre-covid trends.

Join our Cycle Caterpillar  and Park Gathering, Monday 31st August at: Hermit Road Recreation Ground, Hermit Road, Newham, London, E16 4JT

Mark Sutton28 August, 2020The BikeIsBest industry campaign has today penned an open letter to the Prime Minister, urging for a follow through on political will that promises to deliver better conditions for sustainable transport forms.In the face of significant headwinds, both from motoring groups and in some cases local politicians, the letter urges for the fast-tracking of Active Travel England‘s creation to oversee the roll out of dedicated sustainable transport infrastructure that is in line with the newly-created design standards.

This week’s Good Cycling Facility is a Low Traffic Neighbourhood in the Highfields area of the city of Leicester.
As might be guessed from the trees in the street, this is an old scheme, dating back several decades – a series of modal filters like the ones in the photograph have effective converted a formerly ‘open’ network of residential streets into a series of access-only dead-end streets for motor traffic, while full permeability has been retained for walking and cycling.
It’s worth remembering that Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are not new – they have been around for a very long time, and that where they do exist, there are no efforts to remove them!