Acting Minister for Transport Mr Chee Hong Tat today marked the commencement of works at the first of five Friendly Streets pilot locations at Bukit Batok West and launched the logo for the Friendly Streets initiative.
2. Over the past six months, LTA has worked closely with the respective project taskforce[1] on the design and features of the Friendly Streets in their towns. We conducted in-person engagement and online surveys across the five towns, to reach out to the various communities. We are heartened by the positive response from residents and the stakeholders in the pilot towns. 9 in 10 residents felt that the Friendly Streets features would further improve safety and barrier-free accessibility in their community. The works to implement Friendly Streets in the five pilot towns[2] will commence progressively from this month.
3. The Friendly Streets features to be implemented in each town have been customised to meet the specific needs of each area. This is to make daily journeys to key amenities in the towns by walking and cycling safer, more convenient and comfortable. Some of the features residents and stakeholders are looking forward to include:
a. more barrier-free pedestrian crossings,
b. more frequent Green Man activations with longer time for pedestrians to cross the road, and
c. more traffic calming measures such as road humps.
4. We target to expand the Friendly Streets initiative to all towns by 2030. LTA will draw insights from the pilot locations as we work with the community to bring Friendly Streets to more towns. Please refer to Annex A to see how Friendly Streets will look like in each town.
Friendly Streets Logo
5. All Friendly Streets will feature a distinctive look and feel, supported by new ‘Friendly Streets’ signages and a stylised ‘Friendly Streets’ logo with a smiling sun emblem to connote a welcoming environment where the community can move around in a safe, comfortable and enjoyable way. This visual identity is to create a broader public awareness among all road users, especially motorists, of pedestrian-friendly zones prioritised for community use. Selected signages in Friendly Streets, such as at the entrances and before kerbless crossings, will feature this logo, to signal to motorists that they are entering a pedestrian-friendly environment and should slow down and mindful of other road users, especially seniors and children crossing the roads. In addition to the logo, there are also unique markings within Friendly Streets to remind motorists and pedestrians to look out for one another.
6. LTA has also developed the Friendly Community, a series of illustrated characters that conveys the diversity of people that would benefit from Friendly Streets. These characters will feature in the publicity materials for Friendly Streets.
Annex A: Artist impressions and Friendly Streets features for each town
Annex B: Friendly Streets Logo
