Chapter III – part two: A large town

The central area network

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Primary distribution. The primary distributors illustrated in Figure 131, serving the centre of Leeds, form a rectangle enclosing a greater area than the centre itself, but the northern distributor passes through the northern part of the central area. We think this is a case where the advantage lies in placing the road in a cutting with pedestrian links across it, with retaining walls suitably designed to reduce the noise. We propose that there should be six entry points or ‘doors’ from the primary distributors into the area which they enclose, three of which enter the central area itself.

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District distribution. Our aim was to plan an internal system of district distributors which would cause as little disruption as possible to the centre. But the peak hour flows—an average of 3,000 p.c.u. at each interchange with the primary roads—inevitably mean large scale roads, 2 or 3 lanes wide in each direction. The only existing roads in the area capable of dealing with such flows are the shopping streets, but we rejected the idea of using them for the purpose. We therefore had to find new routes. These we have sited through the more obsolescent areas. They leave the broad ‘functional zones’ of the centre intact. Where the pedestrian system crosses these distributors, separation by levels would have to be contrived. The primary and district distributors and their interchanges would occupy about 22% of the central area, or 53 acres.

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Local distribution. Before we could proceed to a layout, we had to decide on the extent to which 'optional' vehicles, and buses, should penetrate into the area. There were four possibilities:

1. Provide long term and short term car parks for optional traffic off the local distributors (these roads to be used by buses as well). This would give a high level of accessibility. But heavy flows would result, necessitating new roads with consequent redevelopment, and a separate level for pedestrians.
2. As in (i) but confine buses to district distributors. Buses represent only 13% of the total peak hour flow, so there would still be a considerable amount of traffic on the local roads.
3. Provide long term and short term car parks for optional traffic off the district distributors, with buses confined to these roads as well. This reduces the flows very considerably on the local roads, redevelopment is kept to the minimum, but accessibility would be poor.
4. As in (iii) but buses routed along the local distributors, thus giving the people who opt to use this form of transport some advantage over others.