What is an LTN?
Low-traffic neighbourhoods use active-travel filters to prevent through-traffic (short-cutting), whilst still allowing residents, visitors and emergency services to access everywhere within the neighbourhood by car.
Reducing traffic to access-only traffic creates quieter, safer, less polluted streets for those who live there and travel through by foot, bike or mobility scooter. This idea has also become known as ‘liveable streets’.
These measures encourage people to reconsider how they travel and make journeys on foot or bike more attractive. There’s a proven effect of ‘traffic evaporation’ – that can reduce motor traffic overall, bringing benefits to arterial roads too.
These short films from Oxfordshire Liveable Streets give a great introduction to low-traffic neighbourhoods:
This 4-minute article by walking charity Living Streets also gives a good summary of why they’re needed:
