Road network optimisation

Arup’s transport planners and highway experts develop strategic solutions to address all of these issues in an integrated way.

Encouraging multimodal travel

Accommodating a more diverse mix of vehicles, safely, requires careful planning and the implementation of segregated lanes for cycling and walking. We also reflow traffic at signalling points, to prioritise public transit options over other modes and support increased uptake of those modes. Each solution is driven by careful analysis of the local context and wider implications on the network.

Safety-focused innovation

Improvements in safety often require physical design innovation to achieve. We designed the first Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) in Australia as part of the Bruce Highway Upgrade Caloundra Road to Sunshine Motorway project near Brisbane. This solution has been found to be safer, reduce the footprint of the road and move traffic faster and more efficiently than traditional interchanges. 

Making a step change improvement in safety requires a combination of road design insight and safety analysis. We develop solutions that will improve safety outcomes while enhancing the wider road user experience. We supported the UK’s National Highways achieve its “Home Safe and Well” pledge, along with partners Aecom and Road Safety Foundation. We used the iRAP methodology to develop a safety-focused route optimisation approach to deliver safety improvements for sections of the Strategic Road Network (SRN). Our work has provided National Highways with a highly deliverable package of improvements which will significantly contribute to avoiding deaths or serious injuries across the SRN.

Find out more about our work on the Bruce Highway Upgrade

These insights can now be used to guide decision making about where optimisation intervention is most needed. 

Real-time management

Transport users increasingly expect up-to-the-moment updates on the availability and viability of their route. For those operating the network there is a parallel need to gain comprehensive, live oversight of the networks they are responsible for.  

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we worked with the UK’s Department for Transport to develop a data pipeline across UK local authorities to understand how lockdown measures were impacting travel movements on UK roads. Arup is also working with digital consultancy Kainos to help National Highways in England to extract more value from their data in support of their objectives to ensure smoother, safer and more reliable journeys for road users.  

Responding to emergency incidents 

Sometimes optimisation is about ensuring quick responses to identifying and mitigating events which impact traffic flow, for example traffic accidents or weather events. We are developing and using the latest digital road management platforms to support decision making for Virginia Department of Transportation through their Artificial Intelligence Decision Support System project, allowing for fast multiagency responses and preventive measures on the network. 

Find out more about our work on the Lower Hudson Transit Link

Many of our clients are seeking a clearer focus on how best to manage travel demand effectively while enabling more sustainable transport growth and encouraging modal shift. 

Travel Demand Management (TDM)

TDM strategies and measures have the potential to influence travel behaviour by encouraging road users to reduce unnecessary journeys, re-route journeys to less congested roads, re-time journeys to avoid peak demands or re-mode journeys using alternative ways to travel. Arup has extensive experience in delivering TDM solutions at various scales. 

We recently supported National Highways with the development of a TDM toolkit for their Strategic Road Network (SRN). Proposed interventions were developed, along with guidance and TDM case studies. This acts as a single source of information for TDM on the SRN.

Tolling and mobility pricing

We work with policy makers to deliver publicly acceptable tolling and road pricing measures that drive desired behavioural changes, such as charging the highest polluting vehicles in our city centres or delivering policies that directly incentivise active travel and public transport use.

Our team of digital consultants, transport planners and IT systems professionals have provided comprehensive advice on a range of aspects covering the operation and development of Dublin’s M50 barrier-free tolling system, the establishment of a new contractual model for the M50 (Tolling as a Service), creating a framework for interoperability at a national level, as well as working to identify opportunities to mitigate risks on a range of emerging issues.

Historically, many road networks in the United States were developed without regard for marginalised communities, creating physical division and exposing people to poor air quality. 

Arup plans scheme redevelopments with the aim of addressing these inequities and reconnecting communities and strengthening social cohesion, while also improving how the road network operates. We can help in a number of ways: 

Preliminary feasibility studies

We help clients at the feasibility stage, offering a multidisciplinary service stretching from initial economic and traffic modelling through physical engineering, geotechnical and structural needs of a proposed scheme. Our insights lead to a stronger and better supported business case. 

Find out more about our work on the Presidio Parkway

Community engagement

Public consultation requirements vary from country to country, but we believe they always strengthen a project’s likelihood of long-term success. We carry out targeted engagement with those displaced or directly affected by the road network, using these insights to shape and define the new project’s form. 

Physical reconnections

Today, many road network schemes present valuable opportunities to reconnect urban areas with open space and nature. Our work on the Presidio Parkway in California, demonstrates what’s possible when bold thinking and a commitment to the environment can inform road planning. The completed scheme has led to 14 new acres of new public community parkland while revitalising road connections from the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco.

Learn more

• Presidio Parkway, California
• Arup selected to conduct landmark study on reconnecting communities

This is compounded by growing passenger and freight demand and pressures from climate change leading to increasing rates of asset deterioration. The need to adapt, enhance and maintain ageing road infrastructure and assets in a more intelligent, cost-effective and sustainable way is becoming increasingly critical for many of our clients. All this must be achieved, while retaining operational capability on these often busy routes. 

We put sustainability at the core of our advice around managing ageing assets, looking for solutions which extend life, repurpose or renew existing assets as much as possible. 

With daily traffic of 230,000 vehicles, Rotterdam’s Van Brienenoordbrug is the busiest bridge in the Netherlands. Arup renovated this twin-tied arch bridge, which supports 12 lanes of traffic of the country’s busiest highway, extending its life by another 100 years.