Birmingham plans to cut city centre car use
Sept 13, 2021 16:40:00 GMT
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Post by wirewiper on Sept 13, 2021 16:40:00 GMT
Birmingham - once the archetypal "motor city" - is planning radical measures to reduce car use in the City Centre. Currently around 25% of car journeys in Birmingham are one mile or less.
The City Centre will be divided into a central core, to which cars will only be admitted for access, and six outer segments. The only way for cars to travel between the outer segments will be to travel out to the A4540 Middleway Ring Road, round and in again.
By contrast, pedestrians, cycles and buses will be able to travel freely into, out of and around the city centre across the segment boundaries.
Birmingham has taken inspiration from the medieval city of Gent, in Belgium, which introduced a similar scheme in 2017. The streets were closed of in a single Sunday evening and despite the dire predictions, gridlock did not occur. The main architect of Gent's plan advised Birmingham City Council not to introduce the plans slowly or allow lobby groups to derail the plans. Filip Watteeuw, deputy mayor of Ghent, said: “In Ghent, we implemented the plan as a whole overnight. It was technically and politically the easiest way.” Watteeuw had received death threats before the scheme was introduced, but afterwards was thanked by the residents of Gent for his foresight and was re-elected the following year with an increased majority.
Source: www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2021/07/27/motor-city-of-birmingham-to-throttle-short-car-journeys
The City Centre will be divided into a central core, to which cars will only be admitted for access, and six outer segments. The only way for cars to travel between the outer segments will be to travel out to the A4540 Middleway Ring Road, round and in again.
By contrast, pedestrians, cycles and buses will be able to travel freely into, out of and around the city centre across the segment boundaries.
Birmingham has taken inspiration from the medieval city of Gent, in Belgium, which introduced a similar scheme in 2017. The streets were closed of in a single Sunday evening and despite the dire predictions, gridlock did not occur. The main architect of Gent's plan advised Birmingham City Council not to introduce the plans slowly or allow lobby groups to derail the plans. Filip Watteeuw, deputy mayor of Ghent, said: “In Ghent, we implemented the plan as a whole overnight. It was technically and politically the easiest way.” Watteeuw had received death threats before the scheme was introduced, but afterwards was thanked by the residents of Gent for his foresight and was re-elected the following year with an increased majority.
Source: www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2021/07/27/motor-city-of-birmingham-to-throttle-short-car-journeys
