BackNaked Street takes national award
Southampton’s new ‘naked street’ in London road has picked up a national award for the best Urban Transport Design from the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, regarded as one of the top industry awards.
This is a significant boost for the naked street concept, the principles of which promote a balance of traffic movement and social uses of public spaces. London Road in Southampton was stripped of road signs, given ‘informal’ road signs, and widened footpaths. The scheme has already had a positive impact by decreases in serious injury accidents and a reduction in vehicle speeds.
The scheme was showcased by Living Streets at our Safe, Attractive and Enjoyable Streets conference in November 2008, where the importance of innovative change was illustrated as essential with such heavy footfall and traffic in the area leading to the centre of Southampton.
The changes are part of a series of streetscene improvements to the area, including the adjacent Bedford Place shopping street, which is receiving a makeover following a Community Street Audit by Living Streets.
Living Streets believe that schemes which use naked streets principles have great potential to make our streets safer and more people-friendly, by changing the behaviour of all road users for the better. London Road in Southampton is a good example of a scheme that has improved safety and ensured accessibility.
This scheme has also been chosen by the Department of Transport (Dft) as an example of best practice and will be included in the Dft’s national design document ‘Manual for Streets 2.
Published on: 28/07/2010
