CLIENTS

Below is a selection of clients that BRH has been commisioned by and a few details of what the schemes involved.

Sheffield Council

Network Hotspots Improvement

BRH was commissioned by Sheffield UTC to improve identified hotspot sites on the Sheffield Tram network. Sheffield Trams were originally commissioned only with local LRT priority, which had similar issues to those found in Edinburgh (frequent stage skipping and disruption to other traffic).

The aim was to look at each hotspot and identify ways of improving the network for any road user that may lose out disproportionately in response to the existing tram priority. This involved a variety of traffic engineering solutions. Typical aims included;

To improve or maintain priority to trams.
Reduce the impact of tram priority on other road users, in particular to buses.
To reduce delay to general traffic by providing linking through the network.
To maintain or improve the traffic congestion on adjacent junctions.
To reduce disruption caused by local tram priority to other traffic.

Edinburgh Council

Tram Priority - SPRUCE

Edinburgh Trams went live in June 2014, initially only running simple local tram priority. Although effective at minimizing delay to trams there was considerable disruption to traffic and pedestrians, with regular stage skipping, ineffective use of green and lack of coordination between junctions.

BRH was commissioned to install the strategic priority tool STM SPRUCE and to implement strategies that would minimize this disruption to traffic and pedestrians whilst delivering the same level of priority to the trams. STM SPRUCE was progressively implemented along the route in the period from June to September 2014.

Ben implemented priority strategies at 21 junctions across the city centre, using STM SPRUCE to make strategic decisions and alter downstream signal timings in favor of the trams allowing them to pass through successive green signals with minimum delay and disruption.

North Yorkshire County Council

SCOOT / UTC review

North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) required its Urban Traffic Control systems to be reviewed as part of on-going improvements to network management in Harrogate. NYCC commissioned BRH to carry out a review of the existing operation of the identified Traffic Signals and to recommend measures that will improve traffic congestion whilst balancing against other road users.

Review of existing data both from the original SCOOT regions to determine the best way that work already completed can be used to reduce costs.
Review the existing Traffic Signal operation
Recommend measures to improve traffic congestion
Recommend methods of control within regions
Site survey and base drawing production for any site works
Design additional SCOOT infrastructure
Produce works cost estimate
Prioritize sites and regions for implementation

Leeds City Council Trolley Bus NGT

As well as supporting Leeds UTC in there on going SPRUCE developments BRH has also provided support to Leeds CC in preparation for their TWA submission and Public Inquiry for there New Generation Transport scheme (NGT) . BRH provided key support for the Leeds UTC Inquiry witness during the Public Inquiry.

The New Generation Transport scheme (NGT) was an 8.7 mile state of the art trolley bus scheme. As it runs from Holt Park to Stourton it goes through numerous traffic signals. SPRUCE will be key to delivering the NGT travel time and to guarantee NGT a high level of priority through the traffic signals on the route.

As well as advising on SPRUCE strategies and journey time benefits BRH was involved in producing new traffic flows, junction capacity calculations, refining designs with unresolved issues and working closely with the various subcontractors on NGT.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority

Traffic Signal Priority

This £1.5m project introduced bus priority at 240 traffic signal junctions across the 5 West Yorkshire Districts utilising the bus location capabilities of the ACIS(Vix) RTI system.

BR Hallworth Ltd took over the project management role during 2012 and successfully delivered the project on time, within budget and provided tested benefits that delivered a project Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) of 8.

Key aspects of the project included:

Installation of a new STM SPRUCE system in Bradford and testing and commissioning of a new Siemens PC SCOOT / STM SPRUCE interface.
Modifying each authority UTC systems to allow them to utilize the AVL data feed.
Implementing the 240 bus priority junctions with the various STM/SPRUCE, SCOOT and MOVA bus priority systems.
A report on the bus journey time benefits delivered by the scheme.

West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service

Green Waves

WYFRS was driven by the desire to increase road safety for their appliances and other road users, and also to reduce appliance response times. In consultation with BRH, they established a set of criteria for the success;

Give a green light to each emergency journey in at least 90% of instances,
Ensure and increase safety levels for the public whilst using the road during an emergency journey,
Flush traffic from both the next and subsequent junctions ahead of the Fire Appliance’s arrival.

Using Leeds bus AVL technology installed on Fire Vehicles and combined with Leeds unique priority SPRUCE system, BRH successfully rolled out a trail routes leading away from a Fire Station in South Leeds. These routes gave an intelligent Green Wave and cleared down each junction as the Fire Vehicles passed through each set of traffic signals. During peak periods queues could be flushed out ahead of the vehicle.

On successful completion it was then rolled out to two more Fire Stations in Leeds.

Various Clients

Transport Assesments

BRH undertakes regular traffic signal modelling for the development of Transport Statements and Assessments. Modelling including Linsig and Transyt and covers isolated junctions to complex networks and Highway Authority sites.

BRH provides junction design services and can develop mitigating measures for developments.