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f . Our design, put together with with together put design, Our t S e ow. At the same time, this area is full full is area this time, same the At ow. l Go Dutch reports Cavenett Mike location. problematic As more London councils look to embrace the embrace to look councils London As more 28 considerable hazards for pedestrians pedestrians for hazards considerable cyclist potential reducing cyclists, and " of rat-running motor tra! routes. arterial major the between Removing a cycle track?a remove to want we would why So existing the Well, here? track cycle solution wrong the is track segregated residential mainly small, a such for space compromises narrow, It’s street. for pedestrians, create which and has constreets, " side at points would still be able toaccess every every toaccess able be still would area the use longer no but property, two- narrow existing The rat-run. a as along track cycle segregated way All removed. be would Street Cable by permeable fully be would routes foot. on or bike make all the surrounding streets safer safer streets surrounding the all make for visitors and residents. group local our from help expert the reducing involves campaigners, throughout, 20mph to limit speed ! tra motor preventing and its and Street Cable through vehicles Motor streets. surrounding and cycling. The area includes an an includes area The cycling. and route commuter cycling established the 3, Superhighway Cycle along plan our and Street, Cable on section this of capacity the expand would and directions in both route cycling

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neighbours. Removing rat-runs can ALL MAPPED OUT: that they live in a safer and quieter component towards creating family- also encourage more residents to leave how the area around neighbourhood. friendly neighbourhoods. their own cars at home, and walk or Cable Street could be The London Borough of Hackney cycle for local journeys. transformed using Follow Hackney’s example is one council that’s had great success Many Dutch residential streets are Dutch-style design Here in the UK, the good news is that installing what engineers call ‘modal access-only for motor vehicles. The some authorities already see ! lters’ — ie, they allow some modes of people who live in these streets are removing rat-runs as good practice. transport (walking and cycling) but comfortable with the fact their car And 20mph speed limits, proven to not others (cars or motorbikes) — to journeys might take a fraction longer reduce casualties to all road users make its streets safer, and to because this minor inconvenience is by around 40%, are also gaining in encourage walking and cycling. heavily outweighed by the advantage popularity. Reducing speed is a key One pleasing thing to note is that

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removing rat-runs costs relatively bone will always lose out to heavy was intended. A solution would be little. While in some quarters building metal if there’s a collision. simple: making the route access-only high-quality segregated cycle tracks The Exhibition Road redevelop- for motor cars, diverting through is considered expensive (even though ment in Kensington that opened in journeys to suitable parallel roads in reality investment in cycling 2011 has been criticised for precisely such as Queens Gate. provision actually has a very high this reason: large volumes of motor return), preventing through motor tra! c (particularly black taxis) still Ways to remove rat-runs tra! c is possible with bollards that use Exhibition Road as a through- Schemes for removing rat-runs from cost very little in road-building terms. route, even though cosmetically it’s residential streets work best when Of course, mixing motor vehicles, been redesigned as a ‘shared space’. they calm a wide area, otherwise bicycles and/or pedestrians only Sadly, the high volumes of there’s a danger car journeys are works if speeds and volumes of motor motor vehicles on some sections here displaced to adjacent quiet streets, tra! c are low. If not, then walkers and frequently make sharing this space PERMEABILITY IN rather than to main roads. And that’s cyclists are likely to be pushed aside impossible, and walkers and cyclists ACTION: a good what we’ve tried to do in the area by the cars because " imsy " esh and must cower at the fringes — not what example in Hackney around Cable Street. The process involves dividing up the area into cells, which are bounded by arterial routes that carry through motor tra! c. No through tra! c can pass through the middle of a cell, only from within the cell to one or more of the bounding arterial roads. The map shows where we propose blocking through tra! c to create three cells. All the non-arterial streets have 20mph speed limits. Designing streets is rarely a one- size-# ts-all solution: it’s important to take account of the composition and size of the area to be treated, the amount of tra! c of all types, whether there are bus routes and, crucially, which streets should be used as arterial routes and which should be calmed. It’s also important these types of scheme aren’t introduced in an autocratic way. They work only when there’s support from local residents

30 London Cyclist Feb/Mar 2013

0028031_CableSt.final.indd28031_CableSt.final.indd 3030 221/01/20131/01/2013 23:0623:06 PHOTO: DiamondGeezer/ ! and, in particular, parents and RETRACTABLE BUS- schools. Residents need to under- GATE: one aid to stand the basics, such as the fact that greater permeability every property is still easily accessible around Cable Street by car, as well as the subtleties such as the potential for wider pavements

and reduced air pollution. Rolling out ickr a scheme in stages is one strategy for minimising confusion about new road layouts and gaining resident buy-in. WINTER Introducing bus lane technology WONDERLAND: Today’s technology allows the existing H&F members bus route on Cable Street to stay in enjoyed a day out at Hyde Park place through use of a bus gate. This is a set of bollards that automatically lowers when a bus approaches, also giving access to emergency services if needed. Woe betide any driver that tries to nip through afterwards, though, as bus gates are liable to rise promptly if you’re not carrying the required radio transponder. To summarise, our design for Cable Street and its environs involves the simple application of tried-and-tested tra! c management to a modestly- sized residential area. It’s perhaps not the " rst solution one might think of because there’s already a segregated cycle track there. But it’s the solution that o# ers the greatest bene" t to the entire neighbourhood, at little cost, yet still provides substantial potential for growth of Cycle Superhighway 3, which at present is limited by the narrow cycle tracks.

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