DEMONSTRATION PROJECT RECLASSIFICATION AND RECONSTRUCTION (IN THE MUNICIPALITIES OF EINDHOVEN AND RIJSWIJK). FINAL REPORT

The 1975 Dutch road safety policy plan announced two experimental schemes involving the reclassification and reconstruction of urban road networks: traffic zones and residential zones were reclassified, and a reconstruction was designed to make residential areas safer and more pleasant to live in, by reducing the nuisance due to the traffic as much as possible. The schemes were put into practice in the municipalities of Eindhoven and Rijswijk during the 1979-81 period. In each municipality the road network of a self-contained urban area of some 100 hectares was reclassified and reconstructed so as to achieve the following objectives: (1) to separate traffic zones from residential zones; (2) within the traffic zones: to separate clearly different types of traffic to achieve safe and smooth traffic flows, and to improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists crossing the carriageway; and (3) within the residential zones (a) to keep out through-traffic, (b) to reduce the speed of local traffic, and (c) to make the environment attractive. Before and after the measures were implemented research was carried out into the effects on such aspects as the numbers of accidents, traffic behaviour and people's feeling about safety. Results of these studies are presented. (See also IRRD 809356, 809355, and 269922.) (TRRL)