Cycling strategy - Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Blackburn with Darwen Cycling Strategy
Road safety
Local air quality
Over the last 100 years there have been big changes
in the amount and types of air pollution affecting
people living in Blackburn with Darwen. These changes
have occurred for a number of reasons, such as the
decline of the more polluting industrial activities and
the introduction of smoke control areas. The peasouper
fogs and the huge belching black chimneys
are a thing of the past. The switch to lead free petrol
and the resulting fall in lead levels is an example of a
more change. Today, road traffic is the most significant
source of outdoor air pollution within our borough.
Under the Local Air Quality Management regime each local
authority must assess their air quality against nationally
defi ned standards for specifi ed pollutants. As traffi c fumes
are the main source of air pollution, monitoring has
concentrated upon locations in the road network where the
volumes and low speeds of traffi c are likely to generate high
concentrations of pollutants.
Air quality within the borough is being assessed against
national health based target concentrations for eight key
pollutants. Some of this checking is done by measuring and
some is done using computer models.
Air quality has been measured at 87 locations and
levels have been modelled throughout the borough and
this has concluded that unacceptable levels of nitrogen
dioxide can be found at five locations:
➔ Accrington Road/Whitebirk Road junction, Intack
➔ Whalley Range/Whalley New Road junction,
Bastwell
➔ A666 corridor between Robert Street and Wraith
Street, Darwen
➔ Preston Old Road/Buncer Lane junction, Witton
➔ A666/M65 road junction, Earcroft
These busy urban junctions are associated with slow moving
vehicles and emissions that are trapped by nearby buildings
and were designated as Air Quality Management Areas in
October 2005.
Transport planners are now working closely with the Council’s
environmental health department to develop action plans for
each AQMA and the promotion of walking and cycling as part
of school and work place travel plans within the vicinity of
each junction will play an important role.
Whilst there will always be some short trips, for which
a car is the most convenient choice, many of the short
car journeys undertaken today could quite easily be
done on foot or by cycle.
However, concerns over road safety do deter people from
choosing to cycle or walk and therefore Blackburn with
Darwen Borough Council aims to build on the success of its
traffi c management and road safety projects so that people
are safer and feel safer whether on a cycle or travelling on
foot.
Following the announcement of the government accident
reduction targets in the document ‘Tomorrow’s roads:
safer for everyone’, the Council targeted sections of road
and areas with a high number of casualties, with specifi c
emphasis on child casualties.
As a result of signifi cant investment during the fi rst Local
Transport Plan period 2001-2006 roads in the borough
are now much safer. 69 traffi c calming schemes were
implemented between April 2001 and March 2006 – an
investment of approximately £3m with well over £1m
secured from the Local Transport Plan, with the remainder
fi nanced using various grants. Moreover, a total of fi ve “safe
routes to schools” schemes to the value of £115,000 were
delivered and in order to address road safety problems in
the rural areas of the borough, four safety schemes have
been implemented to the value of £110,000 including traffi c
calming measures and advisory speed signage.
Subsequently the number of people killed or seriously injured
has declined by 46% from the base period and the number
of children killed or seriously injured has declined by 38%
from the base period.
Traffi c calming measures are not the only reason for a
reduction in injury accidents. The education and practical
training programme which has been operational within
the borough since 2000 has also made a huge impact.
Combining education, training and publicity with physical
measures has a wider target area than a single traffi c
calming scheme.
The success from the capital and revenue investment
in local road safety issues meant that the Council soon
matched the set casualty reduction targets for 2010.
Therefore, in order to maintain the momentum of the good
work which has been delivered over the last fi ve years more
challenging “stretching” local targets have now been set.
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