Early analysis shows low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in Hackney have not caused a rise in main road traffic, according to the council.
The authority’s preliminary analysis of Transport for London (TfL) data, taken from monitoring sites on five main roads, shows there has been no rise in overall traffic levels after the roll out of LTNs.
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However, the TfL data does not measure fluctuations throughout the day at certain times.
Hackney Council aims to work with TfL to understand these fluctuations in more detail and says it will make changes accordingly.
The analysis uses data from January 2019 to October 2020 at five TfL traffic count monitoring sites in the borough, including Mare Street at its junction with Brenthouse Road, the A10 at its junctions with Richmond Road and Walford Road, Homerton High Street and Albion Road.
The measures, which include filters and School Streets, have attracted opposition and large protests from those who raise concerns about a lack of prior consultation, access issues and the knock-on effect on traffic.
They are designed to encourage people to walk and cycle and help make Hackney’s streets cleaner, safer and less congested.
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Cllr Jon Burke, Hackney Council’s cabinet member for energy, waste, transport and public realm, said: “While we’re encouraged by these initial findings on five key main roads in the borough, which show no significant change in traffic levels after the introduction of the new low traffic neighbourhoods, there is more work to be done to measure traffic levels on other roads to identify if changes have taken place.
“That’s why we are also rolling out more monitoring equipment to locations across the borough that do not currently have it.”
At the Mare Street site, the number of vehicles have remained largely below 2019 levels throughout the year, with a further drop after the implementation of the London Fields low traffic neighbourhood in September.
At the Kingsland Road junction, site traffic levels have remained about the same or sometimes slightly higher when compared to data recorded in 2019.
At the A10 junction with Walford Road, traffic has remained below 2019 levels with “no obvious impact” caused by the Hackney Downs low traffic neighbourhood or filters introduced in the area.
The data plays out in a similar way at the Homerton High Street monitoring site. Though it did see “a slight increase” following the introduction of filters in the area, the amount of congestion reduced to below 2019 levels during October.
On Albion Road, traffic levels were already higher than 2019 at the start of the school term, but dropped to near 2019 levels after the introduction of filters in the Walford Road area and on Clissold Crescent.
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In addition to this early monitoring, the council will install over 270 automatic traffic counters in November to monitor congestion over a seven-day period. This process will then be repeated early in the new year.
Twenty permanent, continuous counters on strategic roads will also be installed, alongside existing TfL counters.
A number of traffic monitoring sites were recently vandalised, and the council will be working closely with the police to address this issue.
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Cllr Burke added: “In recent days, a number of traffic counters and cameras across the borough have been vandalised, causing tens of thousands of pounds of damage, by people seeking to overturn the decisions of councillors elected to run the borough by its residents. “We cannot obtain the information we need about LTNs when these acts of outright criminality take place, yet this information is essential to measuring the performance of LTNs.”
Residents leave a comment on the traffic measures at rebuildingagreenerhackney.commonplace.is
Fill in the Gazette’s traffic restriction survey here to tell us what you think.
To view the TfL data used in the council report here
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