 |
Case Studies |
Examples from Partners
Scotland
Inverurie
Inner and outer link roads
Inverurie has strong transportation infrastructure links, being situated on the A96 trunk road between Aberdeen and Inverness and on the Aberdeen-Inverness railway. It is 15 miles from Aberdeen, and the road to Aberdeen is dual carriageway all of the way.
The town is located at the intersection of three roads, so town centre traffic congestion is an issue. Future plans to alleviate these difficulties are an inner link road within the town centre itself, an outer link road to allow through traffic to bypass the town, and a transport interchange at the railway station.
Contact: Ian Fowell email
Sweden
Regional Transport Strategy
 Västra Götaland is Scandinavia’s leading transport region and a propelling force for the Swedish economy. Investment in sustainable and safe infrastructure is of crucial significance to the development of trade and industry in the region and the country as a whole. The region has formed a strategy meaning that planning and building the infrastructure is an issue not only for regional parliament, but even for the regional departments of national boards concerning Road and Transport, Railways, Shipping etc. This has meant a very efficient and economic way of using the available resources.
Local Strategy for Public Transport
 The local Council in Strömstad has formed a ‘Strategy for Public Transport’ and it has been processed together with local action groups from the countryside. It is of great importance that even a small town can provide good living conditions in the surroundings. Furthermore, the connections and accessibility to other places in the region or the world around is considered a fundamental condition for the growth of a small town.
Local Park and Bus
Strömstad has very many tourists during the summer; thus, some steps have to be taken to avoid traffic congestion in town centre. One of these is to organize large parking lots outside the town and provide a free bus ride into town. This has been a very successful project
Poland
Hel
Alternative Transport
Hel Peninsula with its clean air and broad beaches lies close to the ‘Tricity’. The peninsula offers a huge range of water sports and tourist entertainments, so it is not surprising that Hel peninsula is visited by numerous groups of tourists from Poland and from abroad. Each year there is a bigger problem with accessibility, since there is only one way to get there - by car or tram. After negotiations between Tricity, Hel and few other resorts, it is now possible to travel there by water tram during the season. There are stations in Gdynia, Sopot and Gdańsk, which is a significant and comfortable solution for residents of Tricity. Presently it is very popular to get to Hel by water tram carrying a bike from Tricity and to travel around the peninsula by bike only. The idea with water trams contributed to better protection of flora and fauna and reduced traffic on the main road. Then again water trams became a very popular new tourist attraction, and a reasonable alternative for cars, as it is simply cheaper to travel by water tram. Another means of transport, which is at the same time environmental friendly and tourist attractive, is a bicycle path – it is planned to connect the peninsula with Tricity in near future.
www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/news.phtml?id_news=19760
Lębork
Lębork - Two level crossing
Development of Lębork town was blocked and complicated from a long time because the transport infrastructure, i.e. the road net was not adapted to nowadays transport needs. This happens very often in small towns which have long history, where roads are narrow, and built up from both sides, especially in town centres, where there is no land for new road investment. Nearby Lębork, a national road runs along the southern part of town and parallel to it, but through town centre, runs the railroad line. The railroad divides the town in two parts. Approach to northern part of town for vehicles over 3,20 m high was only possible by road that crossed with railroad line within the centre of Lębork. Due to train activity, the railroad crossing sometime had to be closed for even 6,5 hours a day (not consecutively), which caused serious problems and inconveniencies to vehicle transport. Therefore Lębork decided to built a two-level crossing between railway and road, which ensured the possibility of incessant, non-interfering movement of trains and vehicles. This was a good example of adaptation of transport routes in the town centre, where there is no land for additional roads on one level - however not a cheap solution. The budget of whole investment has amounted 6 m Euro. About 80% of this amount was acquired from external funds, including EU funding.
www.motogazeta.mojeauto.pl/cms/?id=27840
Greece
Messolonghi
Project Title: Cyclists’ network construction Project
|
Description: The project was supervised by the Ministry of Transports and the Municipality of the Sacred Town of Messolonghi.
The construction consisted of two parts:
- Civil Cyclists’ network (in the Town center)- cost 390.000 €
- Tourlida’s cyclists’ network (Peripheral )- cost 300.000 €
|
Objectives: Due to its geological structure, most of the citizens of the town use bicycles. That’s why the town was selected among the other greek towns to materialise this project. In order to reassure their safety and to protect the special environment of the town, the construction of the cyclists’ network was judged indispensable. Moreover the use of bicycles by everybody was enhanced. Thus the traffic problem caused by the small streets existing in the town was ameliorated.
|
Process/Stages: The process lasted three years:
- Study extracted by the National Engineering School
- Competition on the taking over of the project by a Construction Company
- Technical Materialisation of the project
|
Outcomes/Results:
- Safety of the riders, improvement of citizens quality of life
- Amelioration of the town’s traffic problem
- Respect of the environment
|
Learning Points:
- Cooperation with educational and administrative factors, decentralisation of the administration
- Alternative methods of resolving the traffic jam
- Profiting town’s geological structure, respect of the environment
|
Contact Information: Vassi Evanthia, K. Trikoupi 7, 30200, +302631 0 55468, email
|
Examples from Elsewhere
Romans and Bourg de Péage, France (combined population 55,000)
Voluntary Transport Management
In France, only towns with more than 100,000 people are required to produce any kind of transport management plan. This requirement overlooks the importance of transport management in smaller towns. In the alpine region of the country, there has been a significant increase in the amount of tourist-related congestion. The two towns of Romans and Bourg de Péage developed an initiative to enhance the impact of tourism with the support of regional environmental agency. Partners worked to design and implement a ‘Voluntary Urban Transport Plan’. funded by the EU, local government and programme partners. In the end, an affordable public transport programme saw a 30% increase in public transport usage in the centre and a 40% increase in regional usage. Without the initiative, emissions were expected to rise 10.5% in the next 10 years. This figure has now been estimated at 6.3%. The success of this initiative has inspired similar projects in the alpine regions of Quedlinburg, Germany (population 22,800) and Luleå, Sweden (population 45,500).
www.managenergy.net
Hasselt, Belgium (population 70,000)
Sustainable Mobility Plan
Another successful use of whole-town transport planning was the development of the Green Boulevard in Hasselt, Belgium. The town has one of the highest levels of car ownership in the country. As a result, it was suffering from extreme levels of congestion and high levels of road accidents. Drastic action was required to reduce these negative impacts on town efficiency and safety. The town devised a Sustainable Mobility Plan to encourage more public transport usage. They created a ring road around the centre of town and applied a high parking charge within that area. To encourage other modes of transport, they improved the quality of connections for pedestrian and cycling routes. A free bus service was provided, with some services running every 5 minutes. As a result of this programme, there was a 10-fold increase in public transport usage. 16% of car owners switched to the bus service. While the area still has one of the highest levels of car ownership, it now has one of the lowest levels of car usage. The cost of investment and free bus service were recuperated in the long run with a significant increase in economic investment in the area.
www.sust.org
Morice Town in Plymouth, Devon, UK (population 3,000)
Implementing Home Zones
Home Zones, or woonerf, is a design concept developed in the Netherlands in the 1970s. The idea is that street design should take account of all street users, not just private cars. Traditional streets and roads use signs to instruct motorists to drive at a set speed limit. Home Zone streets and roads incorporate trees, flower beds, benches, bends, raised surfaces, differing materials, and play areas to reduce a driver’s visibility. This forces them to drive with more caution, reducing their speed. The concept is highly adaptable to any area. It can be prescribed to new residential areas or retro-fitted into existing neighbourhoods as a design solution. In Morice Town, the Home Zones concept was employed to regenerate a deprived community. High speed traffic through residential areas was reducing the quality of life experienced by residents. It has quickly become a very desirable place to live.
www.homezones.org.uk
Bo’ness, Fife, UK (population 13,960)
Car-Free Appearance
Many expanding small towns will incorporate a large-scale residential development. The type of street design used in these areas will impact upon the integration of the development into the overall community. The Maryfield housing development, also known as The Drum, is a 90 acre development located in Bo’ness in the East of Scotland. The site incorporates breathtaking views across the Firth of Forth, and is located in a Greenfield area. The development has been divided into 6 phases, with the first having the highest density. The landowner has set out clear design principles from the beginning of the development. The most important has emphasised that the development should fit into the surrounding landscape. Planning regulation required double car driveways as well as visitor parking provision. This made it impossible to build a car-free neighbourhood, and restricted the design. As a result, the developers aimed for a car-free appearance in their design. To achieve this, developers designed streets to be shared use surfaces for cars, cycles and pedestrians. They avoided the provision of any on-street parking. Instead, parking was provided in shared courtyards between 4 residential units. This allowed the streets to be narrower, giving the development a more intimate feel. The award-winning design has been celebrated by a number of organisations. It represents a positive step forward for the quality of design used by large-scale residential developers.
Car-Sharing, Switzerland
Re-thinking the private car
The decision to own a car rests on the balance between the benefits it affords and the expense it requires. A car allows its owner complete freedom of transport. However, it also requires its owner to regularly pay for registration, insurance, maintenance and petrol. A new alternative to this balance, the idea of ‘car-sharing’, was developed in Switzerland in 1987. A group of 30 people formed a co-operative and jointly purchased two cars. This afforded them the freedom to use a car when other transport options were too restrictive, but significantly reduced the overall ownership costs. While car-sharing is most often used in larger urban areas, it can complement public transport or park-and-ride programmes in small towns with high numbers of commuters.
www.thinktheearth.net/thinkdaily/report/rpt_11.html
Principal Contacts
Mobility Agency in Small Towns (MOBASTO) – www.mobasto.org
Home Zones International – www.homezones.org
|
