New research by campaign group #BikeisBest has shown there are at least 25,000 modal filters in the UK to help support cyclists and pedestrians.
The organisation used OpenStreetMap data to locate 25,676 modal filters, often used as part of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), in different forms such as bollards and kerbs.
The research revealed that Greater London leads the way in LTN filtering, with 3,689 modal filters. Greater Manchester has 1,564, West Yorkshire has 1,040 and the West Midlands has 818.
Adam Tranter, founder of #BikeIsBest, said: ‘”The fact that there are at least 25,000 modal filters in the UK shows that, while change is hard, these schemes tend to bed in and become part of everyday life for residents. There’s been a lot in the news about LTNs but the reality is that these are not new concepts. They are a natural response by councils to the changing traffic patterns as cities grow and have become a standard feature in the design of new towns since the 1960s.’
“There are some campaigners fighting to remove these filters which will make residential roads more hostile to benefit drivers who wish to cut through. While there has been much debate over the 100 new LTNs in London installed since the start of the pandemic, I’d hazard a guess that there’d be much more disquiet if you went into neighbourhoods with these historical road filters and said you were going to re-open their roads to rat-running traffic. Change is hard for people but the case studies of these historical filters shows that the common fears are rarely realised in the long-term.”
Pic-Shutterstock
