In this series of posts I will look at quick and easy things local councils can do today to make their streets nicer places for people rather than machines.

This is the second post in the series, if you missed it, read the previous post about parking reform.

Remove rat-runs

Permeability in traffic jargon is how easy it is for a mode of transport to move through an area.

When you have little traffic, you want the streets to be as permeable as possible so that people can easily move around the space. This has led to many through streets and lots of options for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicle drivers, and was seen as a good thing in the UK.

As the number of motor vehicles increase and start to congest the artery roads, traffic is pushed onto the smaller streets causing them to start to take on the characteristics of artery roads creating danger and noise for the people living within those streets.

Image from Cyclestreets.net photomap

Fixing this problem is simple. Limit the permeability of motor traffic only to the artery roads by ring fencing areas with pedestrian/cyclist permeable road blocks. Look at each area where low volume traffic is desirable and stop the movement of through motor traffic, instead creating a single way from the artery road into and out of the residential area.

This will have the dual effect of not only keeping neighbourhoods safe for the people who live there and for pedestrians and cyclists who pass through them, but also by keeping traffic on the arterial roads and causing the travel distances of car users to be longer you encourage the use of alternative transportation for short journeys.

Also, if done cleverly, the closing of the end of a residential road can simplify the junction it used to have with the arterial road, making the arterial safer and removing conflict between pedestrians/cyclists and turning motor traffic.

Closing off rat-run routes is cheap and effective, a few bollards and a little paint goes a long way.