Brighton & Hove City Council has been shortlisted for three prizes in this year’s ’Oscars’ for the transport industry.
The authority is in line for the Transport Local Authority of the Year award, as well as being in the running for prizes for traffic management and improving bus services.
Results are expected to be announced tomorrow in London.
Just last week the council won the top European award for clean transport, named City of the Year by Civitas.
In its latest awards submission, the council cited the many sustainable travel projects delivered recently and in the pipeline. These, says the council, have helped the city to be recognised nationally as the UK’s least-car dependent city outside London by the Campaign for Better Transport. Almost 40 per cent of residents do not own a car
Projects include improvements to Brighton station gateway, rebuilding the seafront arches to support the A259, the Dutch-style Old Shoreham Road Cycle lane, 20mph speed limits and plans to pedestrianise Brighton’s Old Town area.
In the category for road safety and traffic management the council is shortlisted for the Seven Dials scheme. This made the chaotic junction safer and easier to navigate for all road users and upgraded the pedestrian environment.
Improvements to bus services such as smartcard ticketing and a growing network of bus lanes have earned the council a place in the bus category. Bus journeys in the city have doubled in the last 20 years to 46 million annually. Around 92 per cent of passengers say they are either very or fairly satisfied with the service.
Lead councillor for transport Ian Davey said: “I hope we win but in any case this shortlisting is recognition that we’re not implementing unusual projects peculiar to Brighton & Hove, but projects which transport experts far and wide believe are common sense. Our aim is to get the city moving by offering a broad choice of transport modes - and get them all working as effectively as possible.”
Background to the awards is here