Civilising the Streets
Most journeys are very local: half of all trips are less than two miles long, and 70% less than five miles. More journeys must be made by the modes of transport that can deliver public health improvements and have no environmental impact - cycling and walking. Edinburgh's compact city form should make the city ideal for many more journeys to be made on foot or by bike. Yet poor road and pavement maintenance, poor speed enforcement and the low priority given to new walking, cycling and traffic calming projects are major deterrents.
Reclaim residential streets
Dedicated funding should be provided to enable comprehensive coverage of Home Zones and 20mph Zones for residential streets - combining extensive traffic calming measures, low traffic speeds and changes to the streetscape. Speeds of 20mph or less are essential for safety.
Overseas, Home Zones have played an important role in reclaiming residential streets as social spaces.
Provide for cycling
Create a dense network of on-street and off-street cycle provision, following examples set by the Dutch over the last 30 years, so that cyclists can travel in safety.
Excessive traffic speed is a major deterrent to cycling. We want local authorities and the police to implement speed management plans for all areas, with a combination of traffic calming and effective enforcement techniques.
Introduce a Safe Routes to School programme for every school. This would allow children to move freely and safely within their locality and promote children's independence, while at the same time reducing peak hour road congestion.
On-road cycle training should be available to all children, so that cycle instruction becomes as accessible to the entire population as is swimming instruction.
A major effort is needed to uplift the quality of the street environment in the city and in district centres.
Pedestrian priority within these areas is crucial. Studies of pedestrianisation schemes have generally shown beneficial retail impacts in comparison to shopping areas where no steps have been taken to reduce traffic levels.
For decades roads have been designed predominantly for vehicle traffic, ignoring the needs of walkers - even where there are more people travelling on foot than in vehicles. We want to see programmes implemented to redress that imbalance.
Local councils should audit and redesign all streets to be walk-friendly. Junctions should be redesigned for safe and easier crossing on foot; gaps in local walking networks and crossing facilities should be identified and filled.
