Status: EXPLORING

Current Status: Exploring

Project Stage(s): Concept

Live Trial Location(s): Pending > Active > Removed 

(What are the Project Stages?)
(Why are trials removed?)

CHALLENGE:

The street outside a school entrance can often experience high levels of congestion when parents drop their children off to school by private motor vehicle.

This can cause school gate congestion, illegal parking on pavements, parking on double yellow lines, rat-running traffic, overcrowding on pavements, poor visibility for parents and children, u-turning traffic, road safety risks and cars idling outside school gates harming young lungs. 

PROPOSITION:

As part of the #OpenStreetsBETA series of projects, we'd like to explore the idea of School Streets - creating temporary pedestrian and bicycle, car-free, zones outside the school during school times, and a safe environment for children. 

The concept began in Italy in th early 1990s, and have now extensively been rolled out across many European countries, often following trial periods. 

TRIAL DESCRIPTION:

The plan would be to introduce some (or change existing) traffic signage to prevent vehicles driving through that portion of street during particular periods during which it would effectively become a pedestrianised space. This would be only during certain times (eg school days, perhaps just at drop-off and collection times, or perhaps during the school day).

This traffic signage would then be backed up with a physical obstruction(s) to provide a belt-and-braces solution. What this physical obstruction(s) would be, and how many of them would be required, is to be confirmed. Also, who would put them into place would need be explored as part of the trial. (In the U.K., school caretakers are carrying out this role but we'd need to discuss that with the relevant school. Or alternatively perhaps there could be a link with school wardens, but again we'd have to explore that.)

We would trial it on a temporary basis (eg for a year, with regular review dates built in) and, as a concept stage trial, it would be fully reversed back to the current scenario following the trial period.

TAKING PART: 

We are looking for people to register their school as interested. 

For the intitial trial(s), we'll be looking for a (portion of) street with as many of the following characteristics as possible. However, every single registration of interest will be useful in terms of helping us gauge interest in the idea, and whether there are particular areas of the city that are especially interested. 

School

• An interested and willing school - and enthuastic Principal.
• A Green Schools travel flag would be a benefit (as it will imply that the school will already have identified a travel officer that we could liaise with). 
• An interested and willing caretaker might be a benefit depending on how the trial develops. 
• Parents are interested in the idea, and open-minded. (For example, perhaps there's already been conversations about setting up a walking-bus or a cycle-bus.) 
• A good percentage (say at least a third) of the students should be getting to school by lift in a car. 
• It would be nice if the school had carried out a travel survey of students (for example as part of a Green School travel flag), but if not, this could just be carried out as part of the trial. 

Street

• Proximity to the relevant DCC staff. (So that we can more easily monitor the trial on a regular basis.)
• The street isn't an 'arterial road' (eg it's not the main road to the airport!)
• The street doesn't form part of a bus route (no bus stops, or buses passing through it).
• It could be an entire street, or part of a street - we may need to decide this when we see your suggestions. 
• A predominately residential street would be the preference. 
• Is a straight section of street (eg not a bending street) as we'd like people to be able to immediately see what's happening from the entrance to the street.
• Is a manageable size (say 5-50 homes).
• There's no loading bay or disabled parking spaces on the relevant portion of street. 
• The portion of street would be suitable to close to motorised traffic during school days.
• There are parallel routes around the particular portion of roadway, if needs be.
• Just the one school on the street, would be preferable to begin with. 

SUGGESTING A SCHOOL:

Create your own user feedback survey

OUTCOMES:

[Trial not yet complete.]

DECISION:

[Trial not yet complete.]

NEXT STEPS:

[Trial not yet complete.]

RELATED PROJECTS:

• Open Streets
• Parklets

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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