UK Home Office’s Post

Rutland County Council is working in partnership with Oakham Town Council and Uppingham Town Council to provide free parking in all council-owned public car parks for Christmas events and on Saturdays in December.

A few weeks ago in Ulster County, New York, Jarred Toups presented preliminary scenarios for service changes for Ulster County Area Transit (UCAT). The study is examining ways to enhance service efficiency and improve access for residents and visitors alike. It’s an important step in supporting better mobility and sustainability in the region. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ew4tyyYX.

Happy Halloween🎃! Each year, nearly 1 million people visit Salem, MA during the month of October to celebrate the holiday and participate in festivities. Today on the last day of #PedestrianSafetyMonth, we bring you highlights from the City of Salem, MA Mayor Dominick Pangallo on how he is working to improve safety for residents and all who visit the iconic city! Mayor Pangallo spoke about Salem’s unique challenges as a nearly 400 year old city working to strike the right balance between updating infrastructure to increase safety and mobility and maintaining the City’s historic character. Salem has a Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program that uses a Traffic Calming Priority Tool to determine how City resources are allocated. The tool uses four categories: demographics, land use proximity, crashes, and speeds/volume to measure which areas of the city are deemed highest priority. This ensures that resources are distributed equitably as areas with high population density and vulnerable populations such as older adults, people experiencing poverty, and neighborhoods of color are given higher priority. Once priority is determined, the City can install traffic safety measures on the streets that need them most. Mayor Pangallo emphasized the importance of cities creating inclusive processes and ample opportunities for vulnerable populations to engage in the planning process and share their feedback. “Whether it’s a road safety or a development project or some other kind of community planning effort that the City might be engaging in, [it’s important] that you’re talking to that vulnerable population and that you’re not just reducing it to a score in an algorithm. [It’s important] that you’re actually meeting with them,” said Mayor Pangallo. Watch Mayor Pangallo’s full interview here: https://lnkd.in/e68jE799 and read more about Salem’s Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program here: https://lnkd.in/ejsSy3b5. To learn more about the MIPS partnership between MIP, AARP Livable Communities, and Smart Growth America and to hear what MIPS cohort members are doing to promote safer streets in their communities, visit our Youtube channel or check out our website: bit.ly/MIPS2024! 👩🦽 🚲 🚶

👀 We couldn't help but notice this nice candid shot of Foursquare ITP's transportation planning team putting their map-based questionnaire on display! This one is from a community meeting to discuss survey results and the growing public transit system in the Ulster County Area, New York. Local reporters cover the story, which showcases how Foursquare ITP utilized the Maptionnaire platform in the route planning process: "The (maptionnaire) survey presented a series of tradeoff questions designed to determine how existing transit users and non-riders would choose to allocate limited resources. It was part of the route optimization study ... to discover the best way to arrange bus routes so riders can get where they need to go faster and with fewer delays as UCAT’s numbers continue to grow."

One city Center in Durham

We all know the challenges local authorities face dealing with demand for highway space in dense urban areas. Freight and logistics in these modern times is only adding further pressure. If you're attending #HighwaysUK don't miss Tim Hapgood's presentation on how authorities can maximise their kerbside management potential.

Interesting! The Great Saunter event, a 32-mile grand loop walk around the edges Manhattan. Increasingly, with the completion of pathways encircling the island, this kind of trek can become more broadly enabled. (In her piece, "Great Saunter Tips from Decades of Walking Around Manhattan" Sarah Milstein mentions that more segments of established pathways around the edges are falling into place.) Terrific to see the proliferation of these kinds of events, and, in the process, communities building this kind of walking green infrastructure! https://lnkd.in/gpE-C9F5

This is a really interesting and well-targeted approach to dealing with nuisance #parking, the "no stopping" provision for private hire and taxis (without just cause) effectively overcoming the issue of drive-aways that so often blights enforcement officers' ability to tackle contraventions where the driver is present. It even opens up the prospect of camera enforcement... To give full credit, the concept of using PSPO in this way didn't arise in a #London borough but actually across the border in Spelthorne where a similar order has already been in place for a few months and is operating well. IMHO it has lots of potential around other sites which generate lots of private hire and taxi loitering (for want of a better word) - assuming there is an adequate off-street solution nearby to provide formal provision. #parkingmanagement

School Streets can have a big impact locally on safety, air quality, noise, and just generally making better spaces for kids. They also help the longer term goal of facilitating children to travel actively and sustainably as they grow up. The new guidance from Active Travel England is key in supporting local authorities to get more of these in place.