Covid-19 temporary cycling and walking interventions

We're seeing more and more local authorities making changes to our streets to make it safer for people to walk and cycle during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.

So we've put together a list of guidance, technical briefings and examples to support designers in creating temporary cycling and walking interventions.

This page is split up into three parts:

• Guidance on delivering temporary infrastructure
• Approaches to consider when implementing a new intervention
• Examples of successful interventions across the UK.

Guidance

We've pulled together a list of useful links to guidance on the delivery of temporary walking and cycling interventions.

We'll add to this list as more guidance becomes available.

It is your responsibility to ensure that any guidance you use is applicable to your specific context and that all designs comply with the relevant regulations for your region.

DfT - Traffic orders: Advertising during COVID-19

Temporary guidance on making traffic orders during coronavirus restrictions.

DfT - Reallocating road space in response to COVID-19

Guidance for local authorities on managing road networks in response to Coronavirus.

DfT - Traffic signs to support social distancing

A list of appropriate signage to support social distancing messaging.

Rapid cycleway prioritisation tool

The rapid cycleway prioritisation tool helps identify promising locations for road space reallocation in England to create new cycleways.

Urban Design Group - Fast Urban Change: A how-to guide

Guidance, including legal advice, on the options available to towns and cities to improve people's lives during the pandemic.

Landscape Institute - Seven design principles for pop-up infrastructure

Technical guidance note outlining the design principals of ‘pop-up’ infrastructure.

TfL - Streetspace for London guidance

Details on the Streetspace for London plan which is creating more space on streets so people can walk or cycle while social distancing. 

A guide to low traffic neighbourhoods

London Cycling Campaign and Living Streets guide on creating low-traffic neighbourhoods in the UK.

Spaces for People Scotland funding design guidance

Guidance developed to support partners with the implementation of temporary active travel facilities in Scotland.

Spaces for People is funded by the Scottish Government’s and is administered by Sustrans.

Keeping high streets accessible for people with sight loss

Practical guidance to help local authorities reallocate road space in a way that keeps streets accessible for people with sight loss, and how to communicate these changes effectively.

Produced by Guide Dogs, with RNIB, Thomas Pocklington Trust, Visionary and local sight loss organisations.

Approaches to consider and further reading

This section provides links to other useful documents and webpages for extra reading.

They provide more details of things to consider when developing temporary infrastructure interventions.

Tactical urbanism

A blog by Sustrans Head of Built Environment, Guilio Ferrini on how we can ensure the safety of those undertaking essential trips and exercising when planning for the future.

Life after lockdown

Our new policy briefing series exploring how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting people in relation to transport and movement, and neighbourhoods and places.

Re-allocating road space to make walking and cycling safer

Information and guidance on how Sustrans can support Local Authorities to implement temporary infrastructure changes during Covid-19 and beyond.

Monitoring and evaluation

Find out how our team of evaluation specialists work closely with partners to understand the impact of interventions and the benefits of active travel.

Re-spacing our cities for resilience

This briefing from the International Transport Forum discusses the challenges around how space in urban areas will need to be (re-) allocated.

Examples of successful temporary infrastructure

We're working on creating an online map to show examples of different types of successful temporary interventions across the country.

In the meantime, our Space to move tool shows the latest temporary changes being made to make walking and cycling easier during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This online map also allows people to provide feedback on how these changes are working for them.

Take a look at the map