City Centre Access Control Study for Usti nad Labem Municipality

1. Measure 27 City Centre Access Control 13.6.2012 Katerina Oktabcova Usti nad Labem Municipality

2. Background • City congested with vehicles as the demand for travel grows - the city centre overloaded by IAD • The city centre covers a rather small area and has various function (housing, cultural realisation, business opportunities, shops, services, offices, medical facilities, etc.) - accessibility has to be on a high level • study was developed to determine feasibility of implementing a city centre access control and develop a plan of measures that could be implemented as part of the SUTP • Aimed to reduce the volume of traffic in the centre and to improve the environment in the city.

3. Objectives • Major problems in the city centre: • Dense traffic including transit traffic • Critical parking situation (shortage of parking places, illegally parked vehicles, growing parking demand) Objectives: • Lower the traffic intensity; • Improve the traffic flow and traffic safety; • Improve conditions for public transport; • Improve conditions for walking and cycling; Tools: • Exclude transit traffic by implementing bypasses; • Restrict the entrance of vehicles into the city centre only to the necessary trips; • Find effective parking system; • Implement PT priority system. Bypasses around the city centre

4. Measure overview • 11.3.5 City Centre Access Control • Finished in M22 • RTD task • Research study proposing possible options for regulating traffic in the centre of Ústí nad Labem, with the emphasis on describing expected positive impacts, considering risks and consequences and comparison of results • The study was aimed at following issues: • how to reduce the proportion of transit traffic • how to reduce the number of vehicles entering the city centre • how to improve conditions for safe walking and cycling • how to reduce traffic congestion • how to improve traffic safety and traffic flow • how to improve conditions for public transport services in the area • how to solve the parking problem in the city centre

5. Task 11.3.5 – City centre access control • Reasons for traffic regulations • Identifying organisation of traffic in the city • Presenting the current state of traffic, parking and public transportation • Overview of regulatory measures suitable for city conditions • Access restrictions (access only for transport services, restrictions for freight vehicles, for vehicles with high emissions) • System of roads with regulated traffic • Traffic light signals discouraging drivers • Paid entrance to the city centre • Traffic calm zones (TEMPO 30, pedestrians, residential) • Parking restrictions (paid parking zones, P&R, P&G • Recommended supporting measures • Improvements for PT, cyclists and pedestrians, promotion, parking outside the city centre • Comparison of proposed regulatory tools, analysis and designing the solution

6. 11.3.5 City Centre Access Control • Traffic regulations proposed for the city centre: • Zones with no traffic (except transport services, residents and PT) • Zones without freight vehicles • Zone for vehicles with low emissions • Optimisation of traffic light control system to prefer PT vehicles • Pricing the entrance to the city • Calm zones

7. 11.3.5 City Centre Access Control • Specific solutions: • Closing the major road in the city centre for all traffic - Pařížská street • Implementation of collective garages for Park & Go system around the city centre circuit • Paid parking zones progressively from the outside areas to the city centre • Implementation of low emission zones • Limiting the speed limit to 30 km / hour in “tempo 30” zones to improve safety of vulnerable users in the city centre • System of impassable roads System of impassable roads

8. Results • proper solution is a combination of tools forming a comprehensive system of traffic regulations, not eliminating traffic completely: • Access allowed only for transport services (including residents and PT) • Access allowed only for vehicles meeting low emission standards (not applied on transport services) • Maximum speed 30 km/hour • Park & Go system implemented • Implementation of a specific residential zone • Establishing a system of roads with regulated traffic

9. 11.3.5 City Centre Access Control Scheme of restrictions

10. 11.3.5 City Centre Access Control Improvements of traffic flow after the restrictions Green = lower intensity Red = higher intensity

11. Budget and costs • No implementation • No subcontract or purchases • Only personal costs (4MM)

12. Evaluation • Achievement of quantifiable targets and objectives: • For indicators of traffic levels and modal split, before data were gathered from the on-site traffic census performed in the city by the Department of Transport, Ústí nad Labem Municipality in 2005 and 2010. • Data about traffic development were taken from the database of the Road and Motorway Directorate, Prague Technical Administration of Communications and the Statistical Office of the Czech Republic. • Data about parking places were collected by direct observation and survey realised in the city centre within the measure 25 Short Term Parking Scheme. • After data for the modal scenario calculated through the transport model (access for transport services, TEMPO 30, P&G)

13. Thank you! Katerina Oktabcova CIVITAS Archimedes Ústí nad Labem Municipality katerina.oktabcova@mag-ul.cz www.usti-nad-labem.cz/civitas Event • Date • Location • Speaker