Shared Space: New Road, Brighton
Kilian recently visited Brighton to learn more about Shared Space, which is one of the schemes being considered as part of the Mill Road Masterplan.
“New Road in Brighton is one of the only fully implemented shared spaces in the country, and it has been a great success” said Cllr Bourke. “I wanted to see exactly how it worked, and how it might map on to Mill Road.”
He met with Liberal Democrat Councillor Paul Elgood, who explained how shared space functions and what the benefits are.
“Shared space does away with the usual rigid demarcation of pedestrian and motorized space” said Paul. “One of the obvious benefits is that it gives priority to the pedestrian. It also has a proven track record of hugely diminishing the number of road traffic accidents.”
But it was clear that New Road and Mill Road are very different spaces. To start with, New Road is much broader, shorter and more central.
This does not mean that this model would be impossible to replicate on Mill Road, but there would have to be substantial differences. Indeed Jubilee Street, which is a continuation of New Road, might be more suited as a model to the demands of Mill Road.
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