Roads and Local Transport Research Programme: Forward Look 1999-2000
Introduction
There are 4 main strands to RT/ILTDRC's programme: reducing car dependence; mobility; safer/more efficient use of the network; and environmental. These strands are largely complementary and not hard and fast divisions. Clearly, any reduction in car use will help to mitigate the environmental impact of transport and, for example, any measures to make public transport more accessible will help to prevent social exclusion, an aspect of the mobility strand.
The purpose of this Forward Look is to give potential tenderers and others, with a general interest in the Committee's work, notice of the projects which the Committee hopes to commission in 1999/00. Some of the projects remain uncommitted from last year. The projects are described in Annexes A - D.
Any requests for further information about the forthcoming projects should be addressed to the appropriate project officer (see "Contact"). Because of the expected volume of responses to this Forward Look, acknowledgements and notifications of the issue of invitations to tender will not generally be sent. The Forward Look does not replace formal invitations of expressions of interest, which may be issued from time to time by project officers.
Research contact points for Roads and Traffic and Integrated and Local Transport, and for related transport and planning research areas are as shown below:
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Road and Traffic / Integrated and Local Transport
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Chris Fox, HETA3, 3/17 Great Minster House1, 0171-676 2481 |
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Road Safety & Environment |
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Highways Agency |
John Poynton, Highways Agency, 5/51 St Christopher House, Southwark Street, London SE1 OTE, 0171-921 4907 |
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Planning |
Peter Bide, PD5, 4/H6 Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU, 0171-890 3904 |
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Science & Technology Policy
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Alan Paterson, STP, 1/25 Great Minster House, 0171-890 5037 |
1: Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, Lonsdon SW1P 4DR
Annex A: Reducing Car Dependence
traffic restraint
Road User Charging: there will be various projects to take forward the road user charging research programme including a demonstrator and off-road studies.
Contact: Don Mackinnon, 3/05 GMH; 020-7944 6132
public transport
UG150 Monitoring of Bus Priority Schemes: would assess the performance, benefits, and road safety aspects of innovative bus priority measures and associated issues of compliance and enforcement techniques so as to ensure that the full potential of bus priority schemes is realised.
Contact: Bip Radia, 3/22 GMH; 020-7944 2149
encouraging cycling and walking
Comparisons between UK and Other European Walking Environments: would support COST Action C6, Town and Country Planning for Safety and Urban Quality for Pedestrians. It is expected that the project will identify different approaches to creating environments which favour walking and compare their effectiveness.
Contact: Dave Williams, 3/23 GMH; 020-7944 2595
Attitudes to Walking: would be a qualitative study which will inform efforts to promote walking as a viable alternative to some short or local car journeys.
Contact: Wayne Duerden, 3/22 GMH; 020-7944 2131
Drivers' Perceptions of Cyclists: would recommend policy initiatives which reduce the difficulties of motorists seeing cyclists, and propose ways in which cyclists and other road users might be able to take greater account of their risks of accidents, against a background of a complex road junction.
Contact: Phil Philippou, 3/22 GMH; 020-7944 2147
Pedestrian Detection Techniques: would study advanced pedestrian sensors to determine which types might be suitable for development with traffic signal controls. The project is aimed at improving a fairer allocation of time towards pedestrians at signals, and aiding elderly and disabled people to use signalled crossings.
Contact: Dave Williams, 3/23 GMH; 020-7944 2595
Support for Soft Traffic Initiatives: would review and develop suitable methods for local authorities to measure and assess walking activity.
Contact: Phil Philippou, 3/22 GMH; 020-7944 2147
traveller information
Public Transport Trip Planning Information Systems: Although the precise details have yet to be clarified, the following topics are likely to be included: market research into the requirements for such systems; resolving interface issues within the technical framework in which they could be developed by local authorities and others; research to encourage the development of systems to provide seamless coverage across both different modes and regions; and to develop advice and guidance on good practice. The provision of clear, accurate and complete information is an important factor in encouraging people to choose public transport, especially where public transport journeys involve changing between modes or services.
Contact: Chris Gibbard, 3/12 GMH; 020-7944 2144
attitudes / travel behaviour
Attitudes: There is an on-going requirement to monitor attitudes to help inform the level of understanding and degree of acceptance of the Department's integrated transport policy measures. Two broad threads have been identified in this area. The first is the establishment of some long-term time trends, to monitor how attitudes to transport issues change over time, and the second is to commission some ad-hoc questions in omnibus surveys or some focus group work to gain quick responses to specific issues.
Contact: Natalie Lethbridge, 1/22 GMH; 020-7944 4892
Awareness Campaigns: The research would endeavour to inform transport campaigns and initiatives by understanding more about the types of messages that would most encourage people to use their cars less and walk, cycle or use public transport more. There is also a long-term need to monitor the effectiveness of transport campaigns in changing people's travel behaviour.
Contact: Natalie Lethbridge, 1/22 GMH; 020-7944 4892
understanding land use and transport interaction and other policies
UG220 Multi-Modal Modelling - a New Look: Conventional modelling techniques do not, for example, take sufficient account of differences in individual behaviour. They are not adequate therefore to deal with the wide range of modelling requirements, such as transport integration and modal shift. This project would assess the existing modelling techniques with the ultimate aim of developing enhancements or replacements which will successfully model a wide range of policies.
Contact: Steve Grayson, 3/13 GMH; 020-7944 2285
UG154B Light Rail and Complementary Measures Phase 2: would follow from earlier work which was essentially gathering data on past and current practices on the appraisal of light rail schemes. Phase 2 would provide a critical examination of the effectiveness and impact of existing complementary measures and investigate and assess other possible measures and their potential effectiveness.
Contact: Derrick Jones, 3/14 GMH; 020-7944 2286
Rural Transport: The precise details have not been decided but this would look at the application of various measures in the Integrated Transport White Paper to the rural situation.
Contact: Claire Spink, 3/18 GMH; 020-7944 2232
Decision Making in Local Transport Planning: would be a desk study followed by a monitoring study of how key decisions are taken. The outputs would be used in developing further guidance towards Local Transport Plans.
Contact: Derrick Jones, 3/14 GMH; 020-7944 2286
Monitoring and Evaluation Methodologies and Dissemination of Best Practice for LTPs: The main element of this project would be the production of a best practice companion publication.
Contact: Mike Jackson, 3/14 GMH; 020-7944 2242
green transport plans
Green Transport Plans: The importance attached to this area by Ministers means that more pro-active research is high on the agenda, and plans are well-advanced. The main area is piloting the effectiveness of providing site specific advice to a selection of organisations as a means of encouraging and helping them to implement effective GTPs. The pilot will be monitored and evaluated, with a view to the wider delivery of site specific advice at a later stage. This and other initiatives will also provide more examples for input to further good practice guides and leaflets on how to implement an effective GTP. Work will also include the evaluation of DETR and other government departments' GTPs, and monitoring of the overall take-up of GTPs every couple of years, to inform policy and identify areas requiring more assistance and advice.
Contact: Natalie Lethbridge, 1/22 GMH; 020-7944 4892
Schools/HEs/FEs: Ministers attach significant importance to this area, and have established a School Travel Advisory Group (STAG) with government departments, local authorities and others to lead the dissemination of best practice and to contribute to the development of policy. Pro-active research is high on the agenda, and plans are well-advanced. There will be a pilot to test the effectiveness of providing initial site specific advice to a selection of schools and HE/FE institutions as a means of encouraging them to implement travel plans. There will also be work to: quantify special education transport needs; increase bus use for the journey to school; investigate factors which are leading to increased school journey lengths; establish a website and database on classroom material; and to monitor the overall take-up of school travel plans, every couple of years or so, to inform policy and identify areas requiring more assistance and advice.
Contact: Teresa Clay, 1/22 GMH; 020-7944 4903
Annex B: Mobility
social exclusion
UG247 Ethnic and Religious Minorities' Use of Transport and the Provision of Transport: would form part of the Department's work on increasing inclusivity. It would cover all modes. It would include a literature review, description of patterns of transport use, surveys and focus groups to draw out transport needs and requirements.
Contact: Miranda Carter, 1/11 GMH; 020-7944 4913
improved mobility for elderly and disabled people
Age Audit: would develop an audit of elderly people's needs and requirements. This has been proposed because work on a gender audit has shown a need for similar work for the elderly. There is a cross-Departmental strategy being developed within the Cabinet Office to make all policies sensitive to the needs of age. This work would be the DETR's contribution to the strategy.
Contact: Donald MacDonald, 1/11 GMH; 020-7944 4923
Analysis and Monitoring of the Implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act: would provide further work on the DDA.
Contact: Donald MacDonald, 1/11 GMH; 020-7944 4923
Conspicuity of Access Features: would continue earlier work, by others, towards finding suitable contrasts and tonal contrasts to assist elderly and less-mobile travellers.
Contact: Donald MacDonald, 1/11 GMH; 020-7944 4923
Driving and Dementia, and a related project Driver Assessor Training Course: would find suitable means to assess elderly and impaired drivers.
Contact: Donald MacDonald, 1/11 GMH; 020-7944 4923
UG229 EXTENSION Door-to-Door Transport: would support further pilot schemes within London, which started in financial year 1998/99.
Contact: Donald MacDonald, 1/11 GMH; 020-7944 4923
transport crime
Personal Security Issues Surrounding Bus Use: would follow from previous work for the "Secure Stations Scheme" for rail and the underground. Bus use bears a strong relationship to social exclusion issues. This project would provide specific bus-related information to planners, transport providers and the public through a range of media.
Contact: Miranda Carter, 1/11 GMH; 020-7944 4913
UG185C Transport Crime and Young People: would build on earlier research which identified the young as being both the victims and the perpetrators of transport crime and described initiatives on dealing with young people and crime on public transport.
Contact: Miranda Carter, 1/11 GMH; 020-7944 4913
UG186C Safety Issues in Pedestrian Journeys: would follow on from previous research which identified crime and the fear of crime as reasons for people to prefer private cars, or to avoid journeys on foot.
women's issues
UG161B In-car Safety of Women - Phase 2: would develop earlier research to improve the understanding of the reasons for the different injury rate for men and women drivers.
Contact: Miranda Carter, 1/11 GMH; 020-7944 4913
Annex C: Safer / More Efficient Use of the Network
traffic signals
Urban Traffic Management Control (UTMC) Development Research Programme: The next calls for projects under this programme of research will maintain and build on the momentum of earlier ones. They are expected to include projects on: Performance Evaluation in UTMC Systems; Supervisory Control of Strategies; Integration with Motorway Control Systems; Enhancing the Presentation of Integrated UTMC Information; Achieving Efficiency in UTMC through Communication 1 & 2; UTMC Test and Reference Facility; Migration of UTC Systems II; and Security and Enforcement Issues. The programme will help to ensure the earliest delivery of benefits to the user through practical UTMC systems. The programme will be supported by some horizontal activities in the areas of standards and UTMC procedures.
Contact: Bip Radia, 3/22 GMH; 020-7944 2149
UG172 Alternative Traffic Control Strategies: would consider new traffic signal control operating strategies with the intention of developing a flexible signal controller which may be configured to suit appropriate objectives.
Contact: Suku Phull, 3/25 GMH; 020-7944 2148
Lane Control by Traffic Signals: would find suitable ways to use traffic signal aspects for buses or for HGVs or high-occupancy vehicles at signals. At present there are no special aspects, apart from the aspect used for controlling cyclists.
Contact: Dave Williams, 3/23 GMH; 020-7944 2595
Traffic Signal Control Evaluation Facilities: would set up four test sites which can be used to study "before" and "after" assessments of new traffic control equipment and software. There are limitations at present in gaining agreement with local authorities to use particular sites for evaluating equipment, which this project will overcome.
Contact: Mike Middleton, 3/23 GMH; 020-7944 2145
traffic signs
UG153 Improved Signing for Waiting Restrictions: The existing zonal signing regime has been overtaken by the introduction of increasingly complex waiting restrictions. This project would review the sign designs and practices used in Restricted Zones and Comprehensive Parking Zones, to aid clarity and comprehension to drivers, whilst maintaining environmental standards to reduce sign clutter. A Traffic Advisory Leaflet and possibly new sign designs will result from this work.
Contact: Kitty Vernon, 3/21 GMH; 020-7944 2598
national forecasts and data
National Road Traffic Forecasts: would build on the methods used in 1997, and address some of the limitations of the present national traffic forecasts. The work would inform policy development by providing a better representation of the interaction between roads and other modes, and improved ways of representing the consequences of local policies and initiatives. This work will enable the Department to fulfil the White Paper commitment to revise the 1997 NRTF to reflect the impact of White Paper policies. The work is expected to include the following: Updating Car Ownership Forecasts; Local Transport Plan Modelling; Updating Responses to Congestion Elasticities, Speed/Flow Relationships and Car Use Elasticities; Intermodal Freight Modelling and Forecasting; Logistics Modelling and Forecasting; Urban Logistics Modelling and Forecasting; and Long Term Projections for the UK Economy by Sector and Region.
Contact: Lewis Atter, 3/08 GMH; 020-7944 6178
road track costs
Review of Lorry Track Costs and Environmental Impacts Phase 2: (NERA Report) form part of the work to support Phase 2 of the review of lorry VED. The review was announced in the March 1998 budget, and the aim is to ensure that the environmental damage caused by lorries is reflected in their vehicle excise duties. The research reviews the state of engineering and environmental knowledge and provides more robust data on the costs imposed by lorries.
Contact: Mark Schuck, 4/19 GMH; 020-7944 2509
transport modelling techniques
H016B/C Travel Time Variability: would build on earlier work to develop further methods to estimate travel time variability and to refine the methodology for calculating variability due to incidents on inter-urban roads.
Contact: Stuart Porter, 3/06 GMH; 020-7944 6199
Development of Methods to Represent Bus Networks in Transport Models: As a result of the Integrated Transport White Paper there is an interest in complementing the rail network model which has been developed by OPRAF with a similar model for the bus networks. A model is understood to be available for the bus network in Holland but this has not been done before in the UK.
Contact: Mike Walsh, 3/16a GMH; 020-7944 2280
Feasibility Study for Developing Strategic Networks and Capacity Restraint Methods: would test different approaches to the representation of strategic networks in models. There is a need to incorporate route choice mechanisms within these models, and there is a lack of knowledge on how best to deal with capacity restraints and parking restraint issues at the strategic level.
Contact: Mike Walsh, 3/16a GMH; 020-7944 2280
Feasibility of Creating Highway Networks: would produce a methodology for the development of a consistent highway network as a basis for use in transport models. If successful it would be used in developing base networks for future local and national/regional models.
Contact: Mike Walsh, 3/16a GMH; 020-7944 2280
Improved Travel Elasticities and Methods: would integrate work emerging from time period choice studies to produce more robust single- and multi-mode models.
Contact: Stuart Porter, 3/06 GMH; 020-7944 6199
Junction Delay Modelling: would examine the differences in queue and delay estimates from different approaches using different time slices, and the method used in COBA which assumes a general profile of traffic level. The project will provide advice on the most appropriate time slice to be used in evaluation, appropriate to different cases which may arise, and will recommend "best practice" for the calculation method for junction delays.
Contact: Peter Gray, 3/04 GMH; 020-7944 6183
Land-Use Effects of Schemes: would provide a better understanding of the interaction between land-use and transport and further aims of integration between policies. There are pressures by firms and households to relocate to take advantage of transport facilities, which depends on land-use policies, which this project will attempt to understand.
Contact: Geoff Hyman, 3/06 GMH; 020-7944 6196
Methodology for Identifying Economically Beneficial Traffic Restraint: The economic impact of measures which restrain private car use is not understood. The mechanisms whereby the revenue which is raised can be beneficially redistributed across the population are not well understood either. This would be a scoping study aimed at finding practical ways to establish suitable methods.
Contact: Rachel Chandler, 3/04 GMH; 020-7944 6177
Microscopic Simulation: would find out whether standard values can be applied in modelling for critical gaps ahead and behind vehicles, the desired values, the distribution of these and the influence of congestion, or whether models will need to be validated/calibrated against local data.
Contact: Peter Gray, 3/04 GMH; 020-7944 6183
Annex D: Environmental
emissions / air quality
Traffic Management and Air Quality Research - TRAMAQ: Work will continue on this programme of research to provide data to local authorities to enable them to examine more effectively the effects of traffic management on vehicle emissions and hence air quality. It is based on the investigations carried out by TRL, published in TRL Report 327 - Traffic Management and Air Quality Research Programme. Forthcoming topics, in 99/00 include: emission measurements of certain types of vehicles, particularly large goods and public transport vehicles; compilation of emission databases for particular driving styles in various traffic conditions; and sources of particulates.
Contact: Eric Wyatt, 3/24 GMH; 020-7944 2594
Clear Zones Co-Ordinator: would continue support for the Office of Science and Technology (OST) Foresight Clear Zones programme. The co-ordinator is expected to work with local authorities, business, industry, researchers and others to encourage the development of technology that will improve environmental conditions in city centres.
Contact: Dave Williams, 3/23 GMH; 020-7944 2595
Railway Research: The precise details of this work have yet to be decided, but it is expected to cover topics such as the environmental problems caused by railways and noise from railway operations. It would also allow for the collection and dissemination of the results. from European and other international research.
Contact: Alan Deighton, 3/26 GMH; 020-7944 6616
valuation and assessment
Research Programme on the Valuation of Environmental Impacts of Transport: Many of the issues raised in the SACTRA Environmental Assessment Report have been taken forward by the Highways Agency and/or in recent work in the Department. However, this project intends to derive the monetary values for a range of environmental features (eg noise, air quality, landscape) to enable the appraisal process for roads to be made more transparent. Environmental valuation is a controversial area, and this research is intended to draw together a number of theoretical studies in valuation and assessment, with an aim of finding reasonable monetary values for typical adverse impacts of roads.
Contact: Andy Price, 3/04 GMH; 020-7944 6203
