As the first phase of London's World Squares for All project, work is now underway to pedestrianise the north side of Trafalgar Square located at the heart of central London. While vehicle movement between all approaches will be maintained, throughput will be some 40% less than at present. This scale of capacity reduction is unprecedented in central London. A quarter of all bus movements in London passes through the Square. In partnership with the bus operators, the police and London Boroughs, Transport for London Street Management (TfLSM) has developed a strategy to manage the vehicular flows on the approaches to the Square. The strategy is currently being introduced in discrete changes across central London. Broadly the strategy involves reducing capacity at key locations on each approach where existing or proposed bus priority can be used to protect buses from queues that initially will develop. This lost capacity is then used to improve pedestrian facilities at the traffic signals. The approach is consistent with the Mayor of London's Transport Strategy and other flagship schemes such as the Congestion Charging Scheme and the London Bus Initiative. Initially, consultants were commissioned to identify key locations for managing flows on each of the seven approaches to Trafalgar Square. Options were then considered for improving pedestrian facilities and protecting buses at each location. Measures include reduced cycle times; extended crossing times; new all-red pedestrian stages; double-cycling of existing pedestrian stages; extended clearance times to allow pedestrians to cross safely; and reduced crossing distances. An important consideration was to ensure that outbound vehicles were not disadvantaged by the changes. At a number of locations this required changes to the method of control to enable inbound traffic to be held whilst outbound traffic continues to move. Wherever practical, changes, such as reduced cycle times, have been introduced in small incremental steps. Although Transport for London (TfL) is the highway authority for the GLA Roads and traffic signals, changes cannot be made without consultation with the relevant London borough as the local highway authority. All the new bus lanes proposed are on borough roads and require their agreement for implementation. At present many schemes have been introduced, but there is still much work to be done in the coming months before Trafalgar Square pedestrianisation is completed in May 2003. Much of the traffic management strategy must be in place by January 2003 when the north side of the Square is closed to traffic. By June 2002 it is expected that most of the changes to the traffic signals will have been made. Additional measures will be introduced during the second half of 2002. For the covering abstract see ITRD E124693.
Abstract