Calling Milton Keynes....

[sheddy]

With the 50th Anniversary of MK being celebrated this year, would you change anything and if so what ?

Is the urban walking and cycling infrastructure the best in the UK ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38716423

 

[mjr]

Make the redways the primary network and the carriageways have to avoid them. Build superhighways alongside the canal and railway. Design in fast cycleways from the start (as well as local access routes) rather than squeeze them into the master plan 30 years later. Sort the cycle route signs out: signpost Northampton, Bedford, Winslow, Leighton Buzzard and so on as route ends, not the edge districts.

It probably is best in the UK but there's really not strong competition.

 

[robjh]

This link gives an interesting view as to how it could have been.
If the ideas outlined had actually been followed then we would have had a much more conventional city with housing and shops lining the grid roads and therefore more accessible by public transport. Shops would have been more visible, more widely distributed (ie. 'local') and positioned to pick up passing trade. Slower speed limits too would have made the place more liveable for non-motorists. Cycle facilities are not mentioned that much but would have been easy to integrate along these main avenues with their mixed-use districts and slower vehicle speeds.
Instead a decision was taken to prioritise fast car movements through the area and hide the housing, shops and jobs in little parcels away from the roads. The cycle paths are good (though with limitations as @mjr says) but the whole place could have been so different.