In January 1989, Bath City Council, in association with Avon County Council, undertook a multidisciplinary study which would form the basis for the design and selection of traffic management and environmental improvement schemes in the central area of the city of Bath. The unique historic architectural inheritance of Bath has attracted international recognition and Bath is the only city in Britain designated as a World Heritage City. The combination of an historic road network, a regional shopping centre and the large volume of tourists creates the inevitable conflict between pedestrians and motor vehicles. The pedestrian/vehicle conflict in many of the streets in the central area, which are pedestrianized, has reached a state which can only be regarded as intolerable. This is not because of the large number of vehicles but because for large parts of the trading day the numbers of pedestrians, tourists and shoppers require most of the available space between buildings to move in reasonable comfort. Many tourists come to Bath to experience a perceived environment which in many cases is unfulfilled due to the presence of commercial vehicles. In this paper it is shown how Planners, Traffic Engineers, Sociologists and Landscape Architects can work harmoniously together in an endeavour to achieve a balance between functional necessity and environmental desirability. Examples are included on such measures as traffic calming and treatment of the hard landscape.
Abstract