Organisation: Imperial College London
Date of Publication: November 2022
Uploaded to Knowledge Centre: 13 December 2022
Low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) reduce traffic and air pollution without displacing the problem to nearby streets, according to this study.
The study looked at three LTNs in London, to identify their impact on both air pollution and traffic within the LTN zones and in the surrounding area.
LTNs aim to reduce through traffic in residential areas, usually by the use of barriers which prevent cars from using certain streets, while leaving them open to pedestrians and cyclists.
Many LTNs were put in place during 2020, to prevent an increase in vehicle traffic as people avoided public transport during the Covid pandemic. However, they also provoked opposition, with critics claiming that LTNs increased traffic and pollution in surrounding areas.
The researchers studied three LTNs in Islington, one of London’s most densely populated boroughs, which were put in place during 2020.
The team compared pollution and traffic levels at monitoring stations inside the zones, on streets surrounding the zones, and at control sites further away, using data gathered by Islington Borough Council.
The LTNs – in St Peter’s, Canonbury and Clerkenwell – were put in place between July and September 2020. The team analysed data gathered from July 2019 to February 2021.
Researchers found that concentrations of nitrogen dioxide fell by 5.7% within the LTNs and by just under 9% on their boundaries, compared to the control sites.
They also found that traffic dropped by over half inside the LTNs and by 13% at the boundaries, compared to the controls.
Click on the linke below to access the study:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920922003625