Opinion: Just ignore all the myths about low-traffic neighbourhoods. They’re popular, effective and here to stay
Submitted 4 days ago by dwazou@lemm.ee to unitedkingdom@feddit.uk
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/15/ignore-myths-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-ltn
blackn1ght@feddit.uk 4 days ago
Does anyone here live in these areas any have any experience of what they’re like?
brewery@feddit.uk 3 days ago
Honestly, it’s so much better. The main roads are clogged up but can see no difference to before with those, they were always bad. I haven’t seen any difference in driving times. Our road is so much quieter so seen kids playing on the street (not often at all but the roads are still setup for cars of residents), and the drop constant noise that I didn’t notice until it had gone.
I think the next step should be to flip from it being a road with a small pavement to a shared communal area with priority for people, space for kids to play properly and actual green space. There could still be enough road to get to houses and car spaces. When the road was closed for that jubilee party it was so nice! Saw way more of my neighbours and all the kids were out playing together. Can’t see it happening though…
j4yt33@feddit.org 4 days ago
Yes, I do. They’re nice enough in theory, in practice they turn half the city into a gridlocked mess for 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. It might work better if there was better public transport available but the idiocy of the LTNs here gets especially apparent when you see bus after bus after bus getting stuck in the same massive traffic jam. It’s so obviously not fit for purpose that I can only assume the council members that approved this shit don’t live anywhere near an LTN. Add to that the lies the council have spouted about air quality. A car journey that used to take me 7 minutes now turns into at least 15 with no traffic and into 45-60 minutes during rush hour. It’s absolutely inane
blackn1ght@feddit.uk 3 days ago
Thanks. I’m never quite sure what to believe on these schemes, they sound good and have all the right aims but I can never be sure if the complaints against them are just locals that will moan no matter what, or if there’s genuine issues that the local authorities just try to suppress because they want to implement the scheme no matter what.
I dunno what your situation is, but would cycling that previous 7 minute journey be an option? I guess that’s what the scheme tries to promote but understand it’s not always practical.