The Greenwich-Lewisham freight study was undertaken and financed jointly by the greater London council and the transport and road research laboratory because of a common interest in obtaining a clear understanding of the working of the freight transport system in a sample sector of London. The study area chosen contains a wide variety of land uses and suffers many of the environmental and traffic problems common in conurbations. It has an area of 37 sq km (14.3 sq miles) and a population of 207000 (about 1/35th of that of greater London). The surveys were designed to provide a general description of freight movements and the activities giving rise to them together with an understanding of the transport requirements and objectives of firms and their likely reactions to possible controls on goods vehicle movements. The data collected demonstrate the complexity of conurbation freight operations and have been used by the greater London council in its study of lorry routeing and large-area controls. The results indicate that such restrictions can only be supported if adequate alternative roads are available to accommodate the diverted traffic. The greater London council decided that at present, the London road network contains too few high standard roads to form an adequate network of alternative routes and therefore, with minor exceptions, such controls are not suitable. (Author/publisher)
Abstract