Birmingham s bold vehicle reduction vision

摘要

England's second city has launched an ambitious 20 year plan to cut car use and revolutionise public transport, including the building of new tram lines. Take a walk beside the A38 Queensway - a short stroll from the centre of Birmingham- and you will be left in no doubt that cars are king in this city. Traffic thunders out of one road tunnel before diving down into a second and the noise beneath the Snow Hill railway bridge is deafening. Provision for pedestrians can best be described as poor. But all this could soon change: a consultation on reconfiguring the A38 will begin in 2015. This may lead to the closure of the existing tunnels and the redirection of traffic either on to an upgraded ring road or into new longer tunnels built beneath the city. Such a move would go some way to reducing severance between the centre and outer districts and forms a key part of a new mobility action plan for the city known as Birmingham Connected, which was prepared by WSP and launched in November.