Barcelona Superblock

[Jaded]

A city trying rob reduce air pollution. 85% of the public space is dedicated to the motor vehicle. That's extraordinary.

[hatler]

Interesting stuff. I look forward to hearing about how it works and whether they roll it out further.

The scheme is greatly facilitated by the grid nature of much of Barcelona (based upon the graphics presented in the article) and I can imagine the usual wails from traffic apologists in this country saying it can't be done here because we have wibbly wobbly street layouts.

[Cudzoziemiec]

In essence it seems to be 'filtered permeability': everyone can still get everywhere but people in motor vehicles need to take a longer way round and can't use the whole road space. Implementing it on an area of several blocks rather than one junction makes it akin to the Northern European 'woonerf' adapted to Barcelona's architecture and townscape, but – positively IMO – they haven't once mentioned 'Dutch' and they're doing it for residents, usable space and breathable air, not pesky cyclists.

[Chris S]

One thing we liked about Barcelona - because it's a grid, they've made a lot (most?) of the streets one-way, so traffic only ever comes at you from one direction. Also - the crossings are really ped-friendly; they seem to be very biased towards the peds, and against the motor traffic.

[Kim]

but – positively IMO – they haven't once mentioned 'Dutch' and they're doing it for residents, usable space and breathable air, not pesky cyclists.

If we're ever going to make real 'last mile' progress in the UK, I think that's how it's going to be won.  Cycling is a side-effect.

[Kim]

One thing we liked about Barcelona - because it's a grid, they've made a lot (most?) of the streets one-way, so traffic only ever comes at you from one direction.

How does that work for cyclists?  The bits of Birmingham city centre (which isn't a grid, admittedly) that aren't pedestrianised are a maze of one-way streets, and it's almost impenetrable to cyclists, with every route leading back to the ring road.

[Chris S]

One thing we liked about Barcelona - because it's a grid, they've made a lot (most?) of the streets one-way, so traffic only ever comes at you from one direction.

How does that work for cyclists?  The bits of Birmingham city centre (which isn't a grid, admittedly) that aren't pedestrianised are a maze of one-way streets, and it's almost impenetrable to cyclists, with every route leading back to the ring road.

At least some of it is two-way for cyclists:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.4023198,2.1715994,3a,75y,231.19h,62.73t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1savADVBh_kMB-J0bqH1tTZg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en&authuser=0

but not all, by any means:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.4009857,2.1812315,3a,49y,227.38h,76.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPLN382aZWqyp3SnHAU-z4g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en&authuser=0

but there's also a certain amount of this:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.4175947,2.1985417,3a,75y,188.49h,67.88t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spSrH92QV28s_4w43rWApBw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en&authuser=0

Big wide boulevards with cycling permitted up the middle  .

We weren't there long enough to actually get on bikes, but we'd like to go back.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I recall a blog post by That Emily Chappell in her Messenger Chick days comparing the one-way grid pattern of New York favourable to central London, because NY's one-way streets ran consistently in the same direction for their whole length whereas London's tend to switch direction midway, making it difficult to navigate and adding distance.