Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) is a major asset in the development of the UK’s life science research, teaching and healthcare industries. It is a growing generator of travel demand, with 17,250 staff and 14,500 visitors each day.
Atkins was commissioned to review the existing and projected transport needs to identify gaps in provision and recommend potential interventions to address those gaps and encourage use of sustainable modes. There are also proposals for a new railway station, ‘Cambridge South’, at CBC which could contribute to meeting future needs. Sustainable local access to/from CBC was therefore another key project aim.
We were given the challenge of identifying a package of measures that would meet the following traffic reduction targets:
• To bring traffic levels around CBC back down to their 2017 levels despite the ongoing demand growth
• A more ambitious target of reducing traffic levels by 10-15% compared to a 2011 baseline, reflecting the aspirations of the wider City Access Strategy.
Applying a robust evidence base to identify a clear way forward
Atkins drew together existing data sources to provide a robust evidence base, forecasts of future needs and a compelling case for change.
We engaged successfully with multiple stakeholders to confirm our analysis and potential options, including Working Group meetings and a well-received event for a wider group of stakeholders.
We identified transport enhancements and other interventions to increase use of sustainable modes by existing travellers and to sustainably accommodate future growth. These included:
• On-site and off-site improvements for pedestrians;
• Enhanced cycle routes to and from CBC, connecting with other planned routes;
• Additional park-and-ride capacity;
• Park-and-cycle opportunities;
• New bus connections;
• Improvements to frequencies and service spans, particularly at key times for shift workers;
• Addressing existing overspill of parking into residential areas; and
• Marketing and promotional measures across all modes.
We also demonstrated the likely impact of a new station on travel patterns to and from CBC and how this would affect the interventions required.
We assessed how and when the existing planned schemes and the additional interventions we had identified would contribute to the traffic reduction targets, and the benefits if schemes could be implemented sooner than planned. The section below gives more detail on this exercise.
Effectively communicating our ideas was at the heart of the process
We summarised the results in a highly readable report, and key headline results with intuitive charts showing whether and when the traffic reduction targets would be achieved in a range of scenarios:
• Current Planned Schemes plus other interventions;
• Re-phasing current schemes to bring their contributions forward; and
• A more ambitious demand-management approach to allow CAM and the new station to reach their full traffic reduction potential.
This helped us established excellent stakeholder buy-in and a clear way forward to accommodate growth.
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