Recent projects

Gwynedd Active Travel Schemes Review

The Welsh Active Travel Act (2013) specifies that local authorities prepare Active Travel Plans for towns with over 2000 inhabitants. We recently audited schemes for Gwynedd County Council using the Welsh Active Travel Audit Tool. The tool is optimised for dense flat urban areas and doesn’t handle dispersed settlements scattered over hillsides very well. So a useful scheme here can score poorly. Our report not only itemised the tasks the Council need to undertake to ensure their schemes meet the active travel criteria but also reasons why some of them don’t, or indeed can’t. A common reason in Gwynedd is hills but some roads within settlements can be little changed from their rural origins. The picture shows a scheme which created a new footway near a high school in Bethesda where space for the footway has been taken from fields either side, the stone walls rebuilt and street lighting provided.

Active Travel Fund Awards

Mark Strong crunched the numbers for the Government’s 2nd Active Travel Fund. The biggest winners were Greater Manchester (total ££) and Brighton & Hove (££/head). Mark helped the the CIHT’s contribution to the DfT’s Network Management Guidance where there were significant differences from round 1, particularly in the need for engagement with disability groups and businesses. 


Cargo Bike Parking in Cambridge

Cambridge University commissioned us to improve the cycle parking on their Downing Street site. As part of this they asked us to design parking places for adapted cycles and cargo cycles. We used two adapted Sheffield stands allowing most bikes and trikes to be securely locked. We’re currently anticipating their imminent implementation.


Fendon Road Dutch Style Roundabout Study

We were commissioned by Cambridgeshire to study their new ‘Dutch Style’ roundabout with an annular cycletrack at Fendon Road in Cambridge. We used fixed and mobile cameras and analysed interactions in terms of observation of gives ways and severity. A part two study comes in the Spring.


Waterfalls Bus

The “Waterfall Country” of the Brecon Beacons is difficult to get to by public transport. This project (with Martin Higgitt and Lee White) investigated the feasibility of providing a bus serving the area. We used visitor data collected during our 2017 project plus new information and our knowledge of the area to build a demand profile which Lee used to construct a proposed service.


Wayfinding in Hinckley

Hinckley town centre had an old wayfinding system with at least four types of signs and no consistent policy on destinations. We worked with David Lock Associates to design a new one based on Legible City techniques using “totems” and conventional fingerposts as part of their Town Centre Masterplan.


Contra-flow cycling study in Cambridge

Transport Initiatives was commissioned by Cambridge City Council to investigate the safety of contra-flow cycling on one-way roads with no marked contra-flow lane. Using our innovative mobile camera methods to study cyclists’ interactions with other users, we found that they were safe but width is crucial and gaps between parked vehicles to safely pull into, were important.


Stansted to Harlow

Client: Hertfordshire County Council. Brief: to devise a core cycle route Stansted – Bishop’s Stortford – Harlow following LCWIP guidance and using the Route Selection Tool to assess options. Narrow roads, narrower footways, the M11; all restricted options available. We recommended one utility and one leisure route along the Stort Navigation And the cat? That was the photo Hertfordshire requested.


A14 Hilton to Fenstanton NMU Routes

The line of the new A14 cuts across several local routes. The scheme included some mitigation measures, but they serve into local needs safely. Transport Initiatives investigated routes crossing the A14 between Hilton & Fenstanton south of St Ives. Local residents were particularly keen on an off-carriageway route. The mock-up shows a potential route using “environmental grass margins”.


AHuntingdon Road Parallel Cycle Pedestrian Crossing

Following reports that the parallel crossing on Huntingdon Road wasn’t working well Cambridgeshire commissioned TI to investigate. We found that cyclists experienced greater delay than pedestrians, users were delayed more on the first half of the crossing and the narrow footways made it difficult for cyclists to indicate they wanted to cross, but it gives a better service than a toucan would.


A555 Cycle Pedestrian Route Audit

In January 2019 we were commissioned by Stockport MBC to audit cycle & pedestrian facilities on the new A555 A6-Manchester Airport Dual Carriageway. The audit included design details, direction signs & a study of how the road improves Stockport’s “cycling offer”. The route along the new road is popular with cyclists because it is smooth and continuous but interestingly popular with pedestrians.


Guildford Bike Hire

Transport Initiatives, with Urban Movement, has been investigating the feasibility of a bike share scheme in the town. A small Nextbike scheme based at the University of Surrey was launched summer 2018, which has had higher than expected use. We used our bikeshare experience in many other towns and cities to prepare a business case for funding and developed proposals for docking station sites.


Crawley Cycle Network Review

Mark and Ken have recently completed a review of Crawley’s cycle network. An audit showed the town to have no coherent network despite some lengthy cycle tracks. TI undertook a LCDS classification analysis and an assessment of cycling demand before devising interventions and fitting the recommended cycling improvements into the Crawley Growth Programme.


Crawley Warrington Cycle Network and Signing Review

As part of its LSTF programme Warrington Council wanted to improve non-car access to its main employment areas, many of which were sited away from where people lived. We undertook and accessibility audit, reviewed their cycle route network devising scheme to fill gaps, produced a direction signing strategy and implementation plan. Warrington now has a 92km cycle network covering most of the town.


Waterfalls Tourist Traffic Management

Client; Brecon Beacons NPA. Increasing visitor numbers to the “Waterfall Country” has severe impacts on residents, businesses and the environment. TI undertook traffic & visitors surveys and worked with residents, businesses & public bodies to devise multi-faceted solutions including temporary car parks, segmenting the product, rebranding the footpath network and a rural controlled parking zone.


City of London Advanced Stop Lane Review

Success in Active Travel! Due to increasing numbers of cyclists the City of London has capacity problems with some of its advanced cycle stop lines and so commissioned TI to assess whether any needed enlarging. We needed to devise a capacity indicator, never done before as very few ASLs ever get overloaded.


Lambeth Cycle Network Reviewst Traffic Management

LB Lambeth commissioned TI to review the council’s cycle network, assess cycling potential and produce an outline revised network for future consultation and implementation. This involved a CSNA audit, a London Cycle Design Standards analysis, an updated network and an assessment and prioritisation of “gateways” with an outline design for 10 of them.