Seeing is believing: Lighter quicker cheaper

A temporary timber deck replaces three parking bays and creates more public space and seating: Palm Beach, City of Gold Coast (Image credit: City of Gold Coast)

Department: Department of Transport and Main Roads

Priority area: Building connected, comfortable and safe walking environments for all

Action 2.11: Investigate potential for 'lighter, quicker, cheaper' improvements and initiatives, including reallocating road space in high demand pedestrian areas, to revitalise local streets and places. Publish findings.

Overview

Making permanent changes to roads and public space can be expensive. Lighter quicker cheaper initiatives create temporary changes to test new ideas before making them permanent. These might include kerb build outs, speed reduction, widened footpaths and reduced lane widths. The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) created an online presentation to promote this approach to local governments and others who want to create more attractive walking environments.

Achievements

There are limited examples of a lighter quicker cheaper, or tactical urbanism, approach in Queensland. To help promote understanding of how these initiatives can create safer and more attractive places for walking, we reviewed examples globally and selected case studies to analyse further.

The COVID-19 pandemic swept the world during the research phase. Lighter quicker cheaper approaches were an important response to the need to create more space for active travel options and physical distancing. This provided further examples on which to draw.

The resulting online presentation showcases case studies from Australia and overseas that can be replicated by local governments. It highlights the TMR Chief Engineer's formal support for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency guidance called Innovating Streets for People. This guidance shows local governments how to transition faster and easier to streets that are safer and more liveable.

The presentation provides viewers with a step-by-step approach to:

• understanding community needs
• identifying a suitable location
• getting buy-in from key stakeholders
• planning, designing, building, promoting and evaluating an intervention.

Next steps

TMR will promote the presentation to local governments and others interested in creating safer and more attractive walking environments through its comprehensive directory of Pedestrian and Walking Guidance and Resources.

More information

You can watch the Lighter Quicker Cheaper presentation on the TMR website.