DfT publishes guidance on designing traffic management schemes to minimise their impact on the streetscape

The UK’s streetscape is often cluttered with various items of traffic management paraphernalia, such as traffic signs, road markings and guardrailing. The Department for Transport’s (DfT) new Local Transport Note 1/08 offers guidance on designing traffic management schemes to minimise their impact on the streetscape.  

MVA Consultancy led the consultant team that researched and prepared the guidance. 

However, the new guidance helps improve scheme design by minimising such occurrences while promoting a high quality streetscape through thoughtful and collaborative design.  

The team’s supporting research examined current practice and working arrangements in England through practitioner interviews, surveys and peer review workshops.  

Existing guidance was reviewed and examples of good and poor practice evaluated for traffic management and streetscape performance.

Led by MVA Consultancy alongside specialists from Urban Initiatives and Colin Davis Associates, the team monitored a number of scheme development case studies, following the design and implementation process and offering a design panel service for ongoing projects meeting study criteria.

A multitude of barriers to achieving good design were identified and examined, and the resulting guidance points to ways in which better working arrangements can lead to an improved streetscape. 

These include identification and maintenance of a clear design vision, effective collaborative working, and provision of workplace and formal streetscape awareness and skills training.

The study’s findings and conclusions are now available as Local Transport Note 1/08, Traffic Management and Streetscape, providing good practice guidance for general use by practitioners, project enablers and decision- makers alike.

John Emslie, project director at MVA Consultancy, said: 'Publication of this guidance is important in promoting proper consideration of the streetscape as we go about the business of traffic management scheme design. 

'Our study team found that the issue was not so much one of insufficient existing design guidance, but more one of getting the design delivery context right, from scheme inception right the way through to scheme implementation and maintenance.

'Too often quality is compromised through matters such as insufficient streetscape awareness and training, an entrenched ‘belt and braces’ approach to traffic management design, or the need for more careful handing of the design responsibility baton between scheme delivery teams. 

'As we established, it is entirely possible to design good schemes providing for the visual quality of the streetscape by taking full benefit from the flexibility with the existing regulations.

Good streetscape-aware design need not cost more, or compromise operational performance. Indeed minimising traffic signs, road markings and associated street furniture can help minimise scheme costs.'