Bird Lane in Brentwood, Essex, is an unlit country lane, about 900m long. Before the implementation of a traffic calming scheme in 2002, the lane was subject to the national speed limit and was heavily used as a rat-run. The lane was between 4 and 5m wide, with no footway, and had a two-way 24-hour weekday traffic flow of about 2000 vehicles. The traffic calming scheme (designed by Brentwood Borough Council) aimed to reduce traffic by deterring rat-running and to encourage non-motorised use of the lane. It involved narrowing part of Bird Lane to a 3m single track road with passing places, by adding a 'footway' (raised area bounded by a kerb intended for shared use by pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders) between passing places, and designating it as a 20mph zone. The report describes the scheme and the results of 'before' and 'after' monitoring undertaken by TRL on behalf of the Department for Transport. It makes recommendations for the design of similar schemes. (Author/publisher)
Abstract