Arterial roads do not have to be big, ugly and difficult for non-motorists

The objective of this paper is to describe the evaluation and effects of a major reconstruction of an arterial street in Eskilstuna, a medium sized Swedish town. The aim of the reconstruction was to minimize the barrier effects of the arterial street and by that create a stronger connection between the town center, on one side of the street, and the town-river, on the other; but also to create generally better conditions for primarily unprotected road users in that area of the city. <br><br>

This paper studies how traffic safety, subjective safety, pass ability, accessibility, attraction, aesthetics and air pollution are influenced by this reconstruction. Both objective and subjective measurements have been used. <br><br>

The reconstruction gave positive effects on most of the aspects studied and although the primary aim of the project was not to improve traffic safety the results were very positive in this respect as well. The most negative outcome was an increase in car emissions due to more accelerations and decelerations. In total the positive effects are overriding the negative ones by far and the study shows that by making some sacrifice in the mobility and comfort
for motor vehicle occupants the attraction and esthetics of the area has increased as well as the traffic safety. An attempt has also been made to value the changes regarding different aspects for different types of road users. This clearly shows the stronger benefits for unprotected road users compared with the motorists.