Over 350 requests for traffic calming measures to be provided have been received from Manchester residents in the last 18 months. The City Engineer commissioned the M W Barber Group to devise a 'ranking system' to enable the City Council to prioritise requests. This will maximise benefits by making best use of available staff and financial resources being targeted at those areas with most justification. The ranking system devised takes account of physical and performance characteristics by awarding 'points' for departures from accepted standards for varying categories of road. The system adequately addresses and takes account of the differing functions and traffic characteristics of all roads within the highway hierarchy. The combined 'points' totals identify locations within an area to be highlighted for action and allows city-wide requests of different character to be compared for priority action. The analysis can be carried out predominantly as a desk top exercise supplemented with on-site surveys and observations. It has been 'tested' in two areas of the city with the results confirming initial expectations. The detailed analysis of physical conditions gives a more refined and reliable method of prioritising requests than one which relies on accidents and volume and speed of traffic. The main area of a traffic calming package that now requires resolution is the funding of schemes, which cannot be charged to 'TSG local safety scheme funding', on a scale sufficient to improve residents' quality of life in an urban environment. (A)
Abstract