One road for everyone

In 2004 and 2005, the CNT (Conseil National des Transports, or French national council on transport) set up a working group presided over by Hubert Peiné, Ingénieur Général des Ponts et Chaussées (Engineer general for roads and bridges) to reflect on “safety and coexistence on roads above and beyond use conflicts”. Discussions led to a report, ‘One road for everyone - safety and coexistence on roads above and beyond use conflicts’ (Une Voirie pour Tous – Sécurité et cohabitation sur la voie publique au-delà des conflits d’usage) published by the CNT and La Documentation Française in 2005. The report makes an interesting contribution to the field of urban mobility by taking the perspective of mobility on public roads shared by all potential users and modes of transport without favouritism. The title chosen for the report, ‘Une Voirie pour Tous’ (One road for everyone) was indicative of the contributors’ commitment to ‘fair’ sharing of urban space, not its abandonment to a mode of transport that is still the most prevalent today.

This dossier was created by Régis Rioufol, who selected and reviewed information in the report and adapted it to the CITEGO dossier format.

It includes 3 sub-dossiers:

• Towards a fairer sharing of roads and public spaces

• Management of automobile-based mobility

• Public transportation and freight transport

In 2014, the authors of the report realised that while ‘One road for everyone’ was still pertinent, soft mobility appeared to be regaining ground: self-service bicycle rental had been introduced in many cities, and drivers were increasingly required to share the road with pedestrians and, above all, non-motorised two-wheeled vehicles. Perhaps the time had come to redefine issues of coexistence and the vulnerability of transportation modes.

An update seemed to be called for, so they entrusted university professor Nacima Baron with the task of working on “current challenges of the coexistence of modes of transportation and road sharing, and the vulnerability of modes sharing the public space”. This work resulted on the production of the dossier “ Vulnerability and coexistence of modes of transportation ” published online by CITEGO.