THE ARCHIVE
Grounds
Walk this way | Walk this way |
|
“The pedestrian remains the largest single obstacle to free traffic movement,” said a Los Angeles planning report in the 1960s. Four decades and billions of tonnes of carbon emissions later, some UK planners are seeing the light and pedestrian access figures increasingly in new developments. Except for football stadiums, that is – where careless designs and cheap locations threaten to make walking to the match a thing of the past. The planners of Shrewsbury’s New Meadow aimed to discourage driving with an array of park-and-ride schemes – but at first glance the stadium seems purpose-built to deter pedestrians. Oteley Road, a key access route, is paved on only one side and when the ground opened for pre-season friendlies fans dodged and ducked around signs and under branches, lumbered up and down sloped grass verges, and spilled out into the road as traffic passed by. The local authority moved quickly to cut speed limits – and, when the Shrews filled 6,200 of their 10,000 seats at August’s Carling Cup tie with Fulham, officials decided to close the road altogether just before and after games.
Shropshire County Council’s traffic manager, Hugh Dannatt, admits officials were taken aback by the numbers who chose to walk. “There was a match with Man City when we became aware that there were a number of problems around the area,” he says. That was a friendly on August 1, ten days before the season began – so should these issues have been recognised sooner? “It’s easy to say things could have been done differently, but the decisions taken were the right ones at the time,” Dannatt insists. “It was difficult to work out the exact numbers who would walk. There was no way of knowing it would be that many.” Living Streets is preparing a campaign encouraging planners to consider pedestrians in future stadium developments and wants to hear the experiences and views of fans. To share yours, visit livingstreets.org.uk From WSC 249 November 2007
On the subject...
Comments (0)
Comment
You must be logged in to comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.
|
| «Previous | | | Next» |
|---|
Most popular WSC articles
No love, no joy Tim Lovejoy’s autobiography plumbs the depths |
Taylor Parkes |
WSC 250 Dec 07 |
Graeme of truth Henning Berg at Blackburn under Souness |
Joachim Forsund |
WSC 246 Aug 07 |
Leagues apart The Championship - 2006-07 |
Csaba Abrahall |
WSC 245 Jul 07 |
Cambridge City, Grimsby, Mansfield, Halifax The sharp end |
Tom Davies |
WSC 249 Nov 07 |
June 2007 Diary |
WSC |
WSC 246 Aug 07 |










Subscribe to this comment's feed