Shared Space

Gereint Killa
Senior Engineer - Traffic Engineering
gereint.killa@dft.gsi.gov.uk
Manual for Streets
Laying the foundations for a new approach
• Published March 2007
• Focuses on lightly trafficked
residential streets
• Superseded Design Bulletin
32 (and its companion
document Places, Streets and
Movement)
Design Bulletin 32
First edition published in 1977
Supplemented by Places,
Streets & Movement in 1998
Basic aspects of MfS
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Less prescriptive advice
Inclusive design
User hierarchy
Place/movement matrix
Collaborative working
Sustainable design
Quality Audit
Detailed aspects of MfS
Improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists by:
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Reducing the dominance of motor traffic
Improving the street’s sense of place
Detailed aspects of MfS
To reduce the dominance of motor traffic while
maintaining a sense of place, make the street
self-calming by, for example:
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Reducing sightlines
Narrowing the carriageway
Reducing signing which gives indications
of vehicle priority
Detailed aspects of MfS
Improve the street’s sense of place by, for
example:
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Reducing the dominance of motor traffic
Encouraging increased pedestrian activity
Reducing unnecessary clutter
DB 32 and DMRB
DB32
DMRB
Before MfS
After MfS
Filling the gap...
Manual for Streets
Design Manual for
Roads and Bridges
After MfS 2
Manual for Streets 2
Wider Application of the Principles
Local Transport Note 1/08
• Published March 2008
• Produced to help reduce
clutter
• Helps designers create
layouts sympathetic to the
streetscape
• Shows how uncluttered
layouts can work
Enhancing the streetscape
Before
After
Local Transport Note 2/09
• Published April 2009
• Describes assessment
procedure for evaluating
the need for guardrailing
• Encourages authorities to
use audit trail to justify
design decisions
Pedestrian protection?
Image from safetyflexbarriers.com
Image from greenwich.co.uk
Local Transport Note 1/11
• Published October 2011
• Provides guidance on designing
shared space to meet the needs
of all
• Shared space is a design
approach that seeks to change
the way that streets operate
• Low speeds required for street
to be fully shared
Shared space is defined as…
A street or place designed to
improve pedestrian
movement and comfort by
reducing the dominance of
motor vehicles and enabling
users to share the space
rather than follow the clearly
defined rules implied by
more conventional designs.
Enhancing the Place function
Shared space is
best considered
as a design
approach which
emphasises the
place function of a
street.
Sharing requires low speeds
Low vehicle speeds have more influence on
encouraging sharing than any other aspect of
street design.
Low vehicle speeds can be encouraged by:
• making the street look and feel different;
• creating ambiguity for drivers; and
• making it physically difficult to drive through quickly.
Vision, Purpose, Action
Traffic Signs Policy Paper
• Published October 2011
• The most significant traffic
signs policy review in 40
years
• One of its key aims is to
reduce signing on the road
network
• The Action Plan says we
will provide guidance on
auditing signs
Example - Hierarchy of Give Way signing
Diag. 1003
1 - 1003
2 - 1003 +1023
Diag. 1023
Diag. 502
3 - 1003 +1023 + 502
Backing boards
Temporary signs
Gereint Killa
Senior Engineer - Traffic Engineering
gereint.killa@dft.gsi.gov.uk
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