Trying to make sense of highways and transport in the UK

摘要

In an industry that can occasionally show its geeky side, it probably comes as no surprise that I'm fully on board. If there's one thing that gets a reaction from me, then it's the subject of kerbs (bear with me]. I'd imagine that most people don't give them a second thought, but their use and detailing is very important. At the basic level, kerbs do a variety of things such as: 1 Help restrain the edge of the top layers of a pavement (in the structural sense of a carriageway, footway, cycle track etc) 2 Provide demarcation between different areas or uses of a highway - the obvious example here is a kerb between a carriageway and footway 3 Provide a check or channel for surface water management 4 Provide restraint to prevent vehicles leaving the carriageway All well and good, but they are far more versatile and provide a skeleton on which to hang some really useful things. If we play with the kerb height (also known as the 'face' for the uninitiated) we can make our highway network more accessible. For example, raising the kerb to provide a higher face than normal at a bus stop will make the footway compatible with flow floor buses, which then makes it easier for people to get on and off, plus it allows the deployment of a wheelchair ramp. Transport for London has this covered in detail in its Accessible Bus Stop Design Guidance~[1] There are also some manufacturers with special units, which help bus drivers get in nice and close to the stop without catching their wheels.