Glasgow Spaces For People

Project Overview

The Covid19 pandemic has seen reduced usage of motor vehicles due to “lockdown” measures and travel restrictions. However, it has seen an increase in walking and cycling particularly within towns and cities. In response to this modal shift Glasgow City Council embarked on an ambitious plan to develop safer walking and cycling routes throughout the city centre and outlying areas, by reallocating road space for cycle lanes and widened footways.

The Challenge

Spaces for People is an ambitious programme by Glasgow City Council to implement temporary measures across the city by providing safe strategic cycling corridors and widened footways at pinch points to address the increase in non-motorised vehicle travel during the Covid 19 pandemic. However, the short timescales to design and construct these measures has required careful safety governance to ensure that the proposals are safe for all road users.

Our Solution

Sweco was well placed to provide road safety audit services throughout the design and construction phases of many of the Spaces for People projects.

Our road safety auditors are all full members of the Society of Road Safety Auditors (SoRSA) and fully meet the requirements of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges GG119 “Road Safety Audit” standard.

The auditors also have extensive experience in the design and operation of pedestrian and cycling schemes, giving them expert knowledge of the challenges.

Stakeholder engagement was key throughout the road safety audit processes, the audit teams engaged with Glasgow City Council’s designers and Police Scotland Traffic Management Officers.

The Result and Benefit to the Client

The experience and knowledge of the road safety audit team and the ability to work to Glasgow City Council’s timescales has benefited the Council in the rapid delivery of schemes without compromising on-road user safety.