PJA was commissioned by Birmingham City Council to produce a series of concept designs for Kings Heath High Street.

Kings Heath has many small businesses and shops along its congested High Street. It is an important local centre, but it is also located on one of the City’s primary radial corridors. Traffic flows are high and there have been a significant number of casualties over many years, particularly involving pedestrians and cyclists. Solving these safety problems has been attempted through increased traffic markings, signs and barriers, but this has not been successful and has only led to a worsening of the local environment and a marginalisation of pedestrians and cyclists.

The challenge was to reallocate road space back to pedestrians, create more efficient road space for buses and car drivers, and provide appropriate places to cross the highway.   Trials were carried out of the effect of removing a small number of on-street car parking spaces, which was found to have a dramatic effect on improving traffic flow.  The main bus operator confirmed that services ran much more smoothly as a result of the changes, which helped to make the case for the change.  There will only a net loss of a handful of parking spaces, once the effect of providing additional spaces in side roads is taken into account.

Following extensive consultation by Sustrans, as part of their DIY Streets programme, the principles of the design had been established, as follows:

• Speed reduction and increased road safety
• High level of pedestrian comfort and wider footways
• Provision of a greater number of crossing facilities along desire lines
• Making cycling safer and more pleasant through slower traffic speeds and a narrower carriageway
• Improved journey times with reduced congestion
• Limited removal and relocation of car parking
• Improved public transport through better stops and reduced bus delays
• Place-making and public realm improvements leading to a greater sense of community and place identity.

Following the development of concept layouts, these were then designed to a preliminary level, taking into account utilities and using a topographical survey. High quality rendered images of the scheme were prepared for review by the client.  PJA was also able to provide a build cost for each option.