Local street management - part of the urban mobility jigsaw

Urban roads are under increasing pressure where a city's road system is inadequate to cope with the traffic demands placed on it. As a result, traffic is diverting to less appropriate routes, and this invariably adversely impacts on the safety and amenity of residential streets. Local Area Traffic Management is being implemented to help divert unwanted traffic back onto more suitable routes but, in doing so, existing road networks are being affected. This nexus between Local Area Traffic Management and the hierarchical road network planning is briefly examined in order to better appreciate the effect of any planning decisions on mobility in the urban area.