Glasgow City Council is introducing new 20-mile-per-hour (32-kilometre-per-hour) speed limits on most of the city’s streets.
Since 2023, our team has been the Council’s trusted long-term delivery partner, leading the planning and designs of the 20mph programme, helping create safer streets for communities across Glasgow.
Our role has included assessing around 5,900 streets to determine their suitability for new speed limits, followed by the development of a phased delivery plan, detailed designs and traffic orders to enable the rollout of new signage and road markings. This has required a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together our transport planners, civil engineers, and key party engagement specialists to create a collaborative approach from planning through to implementation.
With over 3,800 streets proposed to change to 20mph, managing the scale and complexity of the programme has been a key challenge. Rather than applying a blanket approach, we undertook a bespoke, street-by-street assessment using Transport Scotland’s criteria, considering local context and the proximity of community amenities, including schools. This has been supported by the innovative use of geographic information systems (GIS) to streamline processes, reducing time and cost for the Council, while enabling efficient analysis of the street network.
We adopted a collaborative approach throughout, supported by effective information sharing and coordination with different Council departments. We engaged with emergency services and the local community, while also sharing knowledge with all six neighbouring authorities, including facilitating a workshop to encourage a consistent approach across boundaries.
As new speed limits are introduced, we will continue to support the Council through the monitoring and evaluation stage, overseeing a comprehensive data collection programme across 316 speed survey sites to inform decisions on long term implementation.
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