Removing a one-way system to reduce traffic dominance and speeds, and better balance the needs of pedestrians and cyclists
Baker Street Two-Way
London, England
£16.2m
Westminster City Council, Transport for London
Baker Street Quarter Partnership, The Portman Estate
2019
City (pop. 8.8m)
Economy / Environment / Health & Wellbeing
Mixed
Creation of walking networks / Improved connectivity to other sustainable transport modes / Improvements to route appearance / Reduction of traffic speeds / Deprioritisation of vehicles / Healthy Streets and placemaking
The area around Baker Street and Gloucester Place in London is a retail, leisure and commercial district in its own right. It draws in visitors to world-renowned attractions such as Madame Tussauds and the Sherlock Holmes Museum, as well as serving the local community. It is also a major public transport interchange and part of a major traffic corridor, used on a daily basis by tens of thousands of pedestrians, cyclists, bus passengers and commercial and private drivers travelling to other parts of the capital.
In the 1960s, a contraflow system was created along Baker Street and Gloucester Place in a bid to move road users swiftly through the area and ease congestion. With the growing volume of traffic, this system had become counterproductive. At peak times, single file traffic was sitting bumper to bumper, acting as an impermeable barrier to pedestrians and cyclists. In quieter periods, vehicles were using the one-way routes at high speed, making the space dangerous for more vulnerable road users.
Westminster City Council and Transport for London worked with the Baker Street Quarter Partnership (a business improvement district) and The Portman Estate (a significant local landowner) to develop a scheme to revert the area back to a two-way system. The aim was to provide simpler and easier to navigate routes around and through the Marylebone area for all road users, while reducing both vehicle speeds and the dominance of traffic. The scheme also aimed to provide the opportunity to improve the local public realm and access to public transport – while reducing air and noise pollution.
The completed traffic management and public realm scheme has improved over 2km of Marylebone’s streetscape – creating 1,600m2 of new pedestrian space.
The scheme has used re-engineering to provide slower, two-way traffic flow on the parallel streets of Baker Street and Gloucester Place. This reduces vehicles on the connecting residential streets and reduces the volume of vehicle turning movements at junctions, lessening the potential for conflict with pedestrians.
Pavements have been widened and resurfaced, and pedestrians can safely cross the carriageway at 50 new or upgraded signalised crossings in the area. Some of these have ‘all-green’ crossing phases (i.e. traffic on all arms is stopped at the same time) or replace convoluted staggered crossings with straight-ahead crossings. A central reservation provides a refuge for those choosing to cross in other places. Provision for disabled users has been made throughout, with dropped kerbs and tactile paving. Along with new trees, improved street lighting and the removal of street clutter, these new pedestrian spaces help to create a sense of place where people can relax and spend time.
To enable interchange between sustainable transport modes, the bus route network has been simplified, with north and southbound services on the same routes now accessible to more people in the core Baker Street district. Cycle parking is available at frequent intervals. Cycle lanes and advance stop lines along the quieter Gloucester Place route clearly segregate bikes from pedestrians and increase cyclists’ safety and priority.
The Baker Street two-way project was monitored with before-and-after traffic surveys, as well as video surveys and site visits. Pedestrian activity on Baker Street increased by an average of 28% between 2017 and 2019 – with increases as high as 84% outside of peak times. During the same period, there was a 25-30% average drop in vehicle speeds and a 15%-20% uplift in cycling volumes on Gloucester Place and Baker Street.
Traffic volumes and air pollution also decreased in this period, but London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone was introduced across this area at the same time – so it isn’t possible to say what, if any, proportion of this decrease was due to the Baker Street scheme alone.
Since the scheme was introduced, it is estimated that there are about 5,870 additional pedestrian trips in the area each day, as well as about 53 extra cycling trips, which equates to £20.2m in active travel and health impacts (using the Active Mode Appraisal Toolkit). This uplift in active travel and the introduction of new pedestrian crossings has been achieved with only a negligible impact on vehicle journey times.
When the scheme was completed, it was estimated that the land value within the intervention boundary totalled £7.28bn. If the scheme made the area more desirable and led to Wider Land Value Uplift (WLVU) of 1% to 4% (in line with similar schemes), this would be a £68m-£272m increase in land value. Overall, compared to its cost and 10 years of maintenance – even in a conservative scenario of a 1% increase in WLVU – along with its projected active travel, health and crime reduction benefits, the scheme has generated a Benefit Cost Ratio of 3.8 (which represents very good value for money).
Using the Healthy Streets approach during the design process so that the partners knew, and the local community were reassured, that the scheme would not only result in benefits for drivers but lead to the area becoming a more pleasant and healthier space.
Private partners, namely Baker Street Quarter Partnership and The Portman Estate, were crucial investors in the early design and championing the scheme. They secured buy-in from local residents and businesses, ensuring that the scheme was ready for delivery once funding became available.
Ongoing local communications during the construction phase, and using traffic marshals when the scheme opened, to help road users get used to the new layout.
Healthy Streets Assets: Guidance for Effective Public Private Partnerships in Delivering Healthy Streets Projects (report by Momentum Transport Consultancy and Volterra for the Cross River Partnership)