The destruction of English small-towns is a picture which is often presented as a consequence of the ever increasing use of lorries for inter urban transport of freight. This report considers four possible solutions to reduce the environmental impact of lorries in small towns. The conclusions of the paper are based on six case studies of 'limited areas' undertaken for the department's lorry planning seminar, march 1975, and surveys of physical conditions and opinions in Tring (Hertfordshire) and Ludlow (Salop). the conclusions of the paper are that there may be no dramatic solution to environmental problems in small towns. First, the lorry is commonly only a small, if obtrusive, proportion of total traffic. Even by-passing which removes a substantial amount of all traffic and perhaps, 80 per cent of lorries over 16 tons gvw can in some actual cases only have a limited effect on traffic noise and people's response to the impact of traffic on their environment. Other policies which concentrate solely on the lorry will achieve less environmental gain than by-passing. Second, proposals for local lorry planning solutions require careful scrutiny. In some instances the costs to lorry operators and public authorities of lorry planning which has not been adequately considered can be high for little tangible gain. (Author/publisher) For covering abstract of this seminar see IRRD no. 229391.
Samenvatting