In 2006, a group of nine cities and nine 'technical' partners started a project under the name of Snowball under the Sustainable Transport and Energy Reduction (STEER) program of the European Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI). The aim of the project was to design urban mobility plans in six cities that would reduce energy consumption and emissions. Themethodology of the plans would reflect the integration of spatial urban planning on the one hand and transport and mobility planning on the other hand. One of the methods to be implemented is Drive Slow Go Faster. This method has been implemented successfully in the city of Hilversum (Netherlands), which now serves as a best practice example of enhanced traffic flow,accessibility, and liveability: energy use, emissions and travel times through the city have decreased significantly, while traffic safety has improved. Because of its inspiring success, Drive Slow Go Faster designs are now being prepared in three cities in the Slovak republic: Martin, Trnava and Zvolen. Drive Slow Go Faster increases the energy efficiency of the traffic system, because it aims at both speed reduction and a more even speedby all motorised means. This is done by a (re)design of the road itself and its environs, in such a way that cars cannot overtake anymore (one lanes for each direction with a barrier between the lanes) and that the cars will be forced to drive at a lower speed (by designing smaller lanes). The Hilversum experience has shown that the concept can save up to 43% of energy and CO2 emissions. Because of the speed reduction and the homogeneous flow, such a design also reduces other negative impacts of traffic, e.g. NOx, PM10, noise and incidents. Although the situations in the three cities in the Slovak Republic are not identical, they can be characterized as follows. Broad, multi-lane roads that cut through the urban fabric are a legacy of the communist time (1945-1989). At the time of its original design in the nineteen-sixties, these roads symbolized progress. Before the nineties, the traffic flow had never been a problem, for its volumes were low. Now, after entrance into the European Union and during a long period of economic boom, prosperity has come to the Slovak cities. The three cities have now designed urban plans using the Drive Slow Go Faster model, which wasdeveloped by SenterNovem, CROW and Goudappel Coffeng. The model uses as input: road design, layout of junctions, traffic flow of passenger cars, freight transport and public transport (timetable), and, moreover, volumes of cyclists and pedestrians. The software uses a microsimulation model, featuring individual car-following behavior. For speeds and fleet characteristics such as fuel consumption, emissions and driving behavior, local/national parameters can be set. The output consists of traffic flow, speeds andstop-and-go-behavior, 'crossability' for cyclists and pedestrians, and energy use, CO2 emissions and emissions of NOx and PM10. The effects of theDrive Slow Go Faster plans are compared with the present situation for the three cities. Results are shown for the following indicators: energy consumption and CO2; air pollutants such as NOx and particulate matter; traffic flow and travel time through the network; and traffic safety indicatorsfor pedestrians and cyclists. For the covering abstract see ITRD E145999
Abstract