Commissioned by the City of Szentendre, Mobilissimus has prepared a traffic calming concept for the Vasúti villasor street and its surroundings.
One of the biggest problems in the suburban residential areas of Szentendre is the high level of through traffic, which has made the formerly tranquil atmosphere of the otherwise upmarket and sought-after areas a thing of the past. Car traffic has long been a problem for residents of the area, and a long struggle has been waged over a variety of generally unproven and sometimes contradictory measures, such as the numerous speed bumps, the TEMPO 30 zone, the diversion barriers, the priority signs and the one-way traffic management. Underlying the feeling is a strong sense of unsafety: there have been accidents in the area, too many cars, speeding, unsafe pedestrian and cycling conditions and the measures taken so far have not solved these problems. Many of the problems raised by residents about traffic in the area are related to livability issues (quiet, calm, safety) and cite through-traffic as the cause. Mobilissimus was tasked with developing a traffic calming concept for the whole area that would be acceptable to the residents.
The study area
The area around the Vasúti villasor is a densely built-up suburban area, with new developments continuing to the west of Harkály Street. The area is a typical suburb built for cars, with a population of around 3,000. The bordering streets (Vasúti villasor, Pomázi út, Római Sánc utca) have capacity but are east-west oriented, so they play a minor role in handling north-south through traffic.
The main problem is that the city's population is among the wealthiest in the country (ranked 6th in 2019) and one of the key measures of wealth is high and rapidly increasing mobility, while the suburban character and topography mean that mobility needs are mainly met by car. Szentendre's transport network is not designed to meet today's needs, and is not expected to improve due to dense built-up areas, while the number of cars will continue to increase due to the ongoing influx of new residents.
Tasks carried out
Extensive traffic surveys (junction counts, number plate recording and speed measurements) were carried out in preparation for the conceptual design. The most important result was the identification of the morning north-south through traffic of around 500 vehicles per 2 hours and its channels, which is a major determinant of traffic flows in the area as a whole. The difference between through traffic and the level of traffic entering and exiting each street indicates that the Villasor area is itself a major traffic generator and traffic sink. The park&ride at the suburban train terminus is counted as 2/3 filled from Villasor, i.e. via escape routes.
Studies show that the traffic calming experiments carried out so far have had some success (diversion elements and existing one-way closures) and some less success (speed bumps and TEMPO30). The pedestrian and cyclist usability of Villasor is far from what is expected in the 21st century: the pavement network is incomplete, there are hardly any pedestrian crossings and many of the existing pedestrian facilities need to be renovated, which is a common phenomenon in Hungary.
Conceptual variants
During the work, several conceptual variants were developed and three of them were presented at the public forum. These three variants have many points in common, the main difference being the way in which they deal with the significant northbound traffic originating from Villasor. The main means of limiting through traffic in all the variants is to divert through traffic into attenuated channels and close other streets. All streets in Villasor will remain accessible.
The three variants can also be interpreted as development phases: the quickest to implement is the "Mathiász Street without traffic lights" variant, a most advanced form of which is the "No trespassing" variant, which was adopted at the public forum and is shown below. The "Mathiász Street with traffic lights" option is proposed as a long-term vision.
In a vote initiated by those present at the residents' forum, the overwhelming majority supported the concept presented, with the municipality promising to further develop the concept with the name "No trespassing".
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Year of completion:
2022-2023
