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“These trends are not just threatening the transport system, they are threatening the future of our cities and our countryside. Meanwhile, Dr Steve Melia, senior planning and transport lecturer at UWE Bristol, warned that cities must reduce their motor traffic levels to secure their survival. “So just as we should be proud to take our share in making lockdown and similar work in enabling the NHS and the economy to hold out until we have a vaccine and time to think how we are going to pay off our new debts, so we should be proud to do our bit to make the reshaped road network work for everyone, even if it’s awkward for us.” But our share in this discomfort is just our tiny share of the vast price that needs to be faced up to to reduce emissions, decarbonise transport and do our country’s bit in keeping climate change manageable for future generations. This will be a bit uncomfortable for quite a lot of us and really awkward for some.
#Gridlock traffic trial
He said: “All users of motor vehicles have to find by trial and error how best to make their journeys, and perhaps which to give up making in their vehicles, as they collectively get used to the enhanced – but from their point of view reduced – network. But he warned it would mean a stark, and sometimes uncomfortable choice, for many people who would need to consider how they travelled in the future. Richard Allsop, emeritus professor of transport studies at University College London, said the pandemic had provided the opportunity for a radical reshaping of space on our roads and streets in favour of walking and cycling and the creation of better places to live and work. Cities that have made a transition to less car travel and more travel by bicycle are much more liveable cities.” A lane the width of a car lane can carry three to five times as many bicycles as cars. “For trips of a typical urban length the bicycle offers a highly efficient alternative. “A good way of relieving the pressure as a result of this excess of motor vehicles is for as many people as possible to switch to using more efficient forms of travel,” he said. John Parkin, professor of transport engineering at UWE Bristol, said implementing more cycling and walking infrastructure schemes would ultimately create more liveable cities. Unfortunately, a vocal minority of people and MPs have taken exception to these schemes, blaming them as the sole cause of congestion.” “That’s why they announced £250 million in emergency funding for councils to implement schemes to make it safer and easier for people to walk and cycle if they wanted to avoid public transport. Do-nothing means more traffic jams, more road injuries, and more pollution.”ĭuncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Cycling UK, added: “To be fair to the Government, they predicted congestion and gridlock could be a major problem if people returning to work after the Covid lockdown switched to using their cars.
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“Without such changes, motor traffic will only grow further as and when lockdowns are relaxed. “Rising levels of motor traffic stem from a failure to provide safe alternatives, like a dense network of protected cycle tracks to give people of all ages real choice about how they travel,” she said. In a paper published in June, Rachel Aldred, professor of transport at the University of Westminster, predicted that up to 2.7 million more people who had previously commuted by public transport could switch to travelling by car. In many cases, councils have removed schemes because a small number of vocal objectors claimed they were causing congestion. Meanwhile, many local authorities have scrapped emergency active travel schemes aimed at increasing cycling and walking, such as pop-up bike lanes and low traffic neighbourhoods, which were intended to ease the pressure on the nation’s roads.
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However, more than half of workers (59%) have returned to work, with 28% of the workforce still working remotely instead of at their normal place of work. Britain could be heading for traffic gridlock in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, transport experts have warned, as workers continue to shun public transport in favour of commuting by car.Īlthough motor traffic on Britain’s roads decreased at the height of the national lockdown, Government figures show it is now at almost 100% of pre-COVID levels.