How has Canterbury Managed the Traffic Going Into and out of the CBD Compared to the Outskirts of Canterbury and do the Residents / Visitors Think This is Successful?

Authors Avatar

DECLAN JEWELL 11CN        

GCSE GEOGRAPHY COURSEWORK-CANTERBURY

How has Canterbury Managed the Traffic Going Into and out of the CBD Compared to the Outskirts of Canterbury and do the Residents / Visitors Think This is Successful?

INTRODUCTION:

Why did I choose the title and why is Canterbury a good case study?

I chose the title because I am interested in how Canterbury’s traffic management differs between the CBD and the outskirts of Canterbury and to find out what the residents and visitors think of the way traffic is controlled in the CBD.

Canterbury is a good case study because traffic and congestion in the area around the CBD of Canterbury is continuous. There are also lots of different examples of traffic management around the CBD of Canterbury. They use dual carriageways and large roundabouts around the CBD of Canterbury whereas on the outskirts of Canterbury they use single carriageways and much smaller roundabouts and ring roads.

Where is Canterbury?

Canterbury is in the South East of England in Kent and is near to the coastal towns of Whitstable, Herne Bay and Margate. There are main access and exit routes going into and out of Canterbury to the coastal towns. The main A2 road that is a direct route to London and is provides easy access for commuters. Also it feeds a direct route to the Euro Tunnel at Folkestone and the Dover to Calais ferries.

History of Canterbury:

Romans- Roman Canterbury was prosperous and contained many sizeable public buildings and private dwellings. Later during the Roman occupation, around AD 270, the combination of Saxon raiders and increasing conflicts within the Roman Empire itself led to the construction of a defensive wall around in the city.

Anglo-Saxons- Canterbury, known then as Cantwara-burh, or 'the fortified town of the Men of Kent', became the capital of the new kingdom from the 6th century onwards. It was the main residence of King Ethelbert from around AD 590.

Canterbury Cathedral- In AD 597, the arrival of St Augustine in England, on a mission to convert its inhabitants to Christianity, marked the beginning of Canterbury's role as the centre of the Christian church here. The Cathedral's history goes back to 597AD when St Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great as a missionary, established his seat (or 'Cathedra') in Canterbury. In 1170 Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the Cathedral and ever since, the Cathedral has attracted thousands of pilgrims, as told famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

The A2- The Anglo-Saxons named it Wæcelinga Stræt which developed into the modern . It was one of the most important Roman roads in Britain, since it linked London with  , and from there to three Channel ports: Dover,  and . In which only Dover is still used.

This links in with the title of my project because it is one of the main access routes into Canterbury and has been in use since the Romans. From this we can see how Canterbury council has managed the traffic coming into Canterbury from a main road from London.

Aims of my Investigation:

  • Accessibility: Canterbury has access routes via the main A2, from Ashford, from Dover, Sturry and the Thanet Way.
  • Pedestrianised high street: Canterbury has opened its high street to pedestrians only. This is to add safety to the pedestrians and takes away the main traffic flow from the CBD of Canterbury.
  • Priority bus / taxi lanes: this ensures that people traveling on the park and ride buses, public buses and taxis are not disturbed by the congestion / traffic at peak times.
  • Park and ride: park and ride is a way of decreasing the amount of traffic in the CBD of Canterbury by having a bus collect visitors from a car park and transporting them, for a small charge, into the CBD.

Hypothesis:

My hypothesis related to this Case study of Canterbury is that Canterbury will concentrate on the types of traffic management strategies in the CBD of Canterbury more than the outskirts of Canterbury. This is because there will be much more traffic on the roads in the CBD and therefore more traffic management strategies than roads on the outskirts of Canterbury and more work is needed to improve the traffic management in the CBD of Canterbury. Having much more traffic in the CBD of Canterbury will result in there being many additional traffic management strategies and less traffic management will be needed for the outskirts of Canterbury. There will be more congestion around the CBD of Canterbury because the roads are all major roads into the city centre and therefore, the congestion index will be slower around the CBD than on the outskirts of Canterbury. The more visitors there are to the CBD, the more congestion there will be and the use of the car parks will be increased. There will be more people walking at the survey points around the CBD and there will be less people walking if we were to collect data from roads on the outskirts of Canterbury. Asking the question ‘What are the problems caused by tourists?’ in our questionnaire, I predict that one of the answers we receive will be related to congestion and traffic around the CBD of Canterbury.

Join now!

Geographical theories:

  • Population increase → more houses built → more vehicles per household.
  • More vehicles per household → more traffic and congestion during rush hours → more roads built → more pollution.
  • Population increase → more shops opening → higher profits
  • More vehicles per household → less use of public transport → more pollution.

Key Questions:

  • How does Canterbury control the main access / exit routes into the CBD?
  • How do the traffic management strategies differ as we move further away from the CBC ...

This is a preview of the whole essay