I live in one of the proposed LTN zones...
How will I benefit and what changes will I see?
You’ll benefit from a quieter, less polluted street outside your front door and less traffic and congestion around the area as a whole (read about why).
The streets around where you live will be safer and provide a more pleasant environment for walking and cycling, giving you and others more choice about the way you move around the neighbourhood.
Speeding and distracted driving will become less of a problem.
When areas become access-only, it also opens up the possibility of other benefits and improvements for local residents and people travelling through the area, such as pocket parks, or ‘parklets’, and community spaces where people can sit and rest.
What kinds of changes am I likely to see?
To prevent traffic taking short-cuts through our streets it will be necessary to use active travel filters (planters, bollards etc.) to make some of our streets access-only for motor vehicles, while allowing people walking and using bikes and mobility scooters to pass through. See how active travel filters can look here.
Although you can still access every part of the road network in your car, as is the case now, this means you may need to make a short detour in some cases. However, based on the predicted overall reduction in traffic volume, as recorded in other LTN schemes [8], this is not likely to increase your journey time significantly.
When you’re not on your way somewhere else – however you choose to travel there – you’ll benefit from a quieter, less polluted street outside your front door. There are always trade-offs when deciding in favour of change, but we believe this is one that’s well worth making.
The County Council recently passed a motion to make provision for LTNs across Oxfordshire [9]. Headington Liveable Streets wants to work proactively with the Highways officers to ensure local residents have an input into the design of the schemes when this policy is implemented and invites you to be part of this. Join our mailing list or look out for our flyer inviting you to a series of public events to discuss how we’d like the County’s policy to be implemented in our neighbourhood.