Road Crossings

From GPG

Good road crossings are essential for satisfactory journeys on foot. Road crossings can serve pedestrians badly in a variety of ways. These include: long waits at street-level signalled crossings, unpleasant and threatening subways and intimidation by fast moving traffic. The choice of crossing type and its operational characteristic reflect the local highway authority's view of the pedestrian-car balance, and changes to the status quo can be controversial. Suggested solutions should take account of user preferences, which are diverse - for example, by no means everyone thinks that subways are bad at all times of day.

• In Nottingham, there is an ongoing programme to remove pedestrian underpasses and replace them with surface-level crossings.This pattern is being repeated all over the city - with old subways being filled in - in a bid to make walking more attractive. Complementary measures include pedestrian-friendly phasing of traffic lights, improved pavement surfaces and keeping barriers to a minimum.
• Filling in pedestrian subways is one way of dealing with this potentially threatening and unpleasant type of crossing. In contrast, Wolverhampton has decided, in some cases, to supplement subways with street-level crossings giving pedestrians and cyclists a choice. During the day adults with children often prefer the underpass as do cyclists, but after dark pedestrians can opt to stay above ground. Commending the Wolverhampton approach, Kristine Beuret, speaking at the Leeds Walking Seminar, drew attention to how rare it is for pedestrians to be offered a choice of road-crossing options.
• In the centre of Birmingham the usual elevation of roads and pedestrian areas has been reversed, with pedestrians at street level and cars routed underneath. This has increased the amount of pedestrian space, and made it much more attractive. This re-design of public space in Birmingham's city centre is part of a wider programme to regenerate the city.

DfT has recently produced a report called Walking the way ahead which has good practice case studies and advice on improving the pedestrian environment