Kingston ‘Mini-Holland’

THE CHALLENGE

Transport for London’s Mini-Hollands programme is designed to encourage imaginative new approaches to cycling infrastructure London and, in due course, more and safer cycling.

The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK) is one of three London authorities to have successfully bid for funding as part of the scheme. The Borough will invest the £30 million grant in a range of measures including major network improvements in order to unlock what they consider to be significant latent demand for cycling in the Borough. Many of the proposed measures had the potential for significant disruption to traffic flows such as the ‘Dutch style’ roundabout which gives priority to cyclists and improves their visibility. Planners needed to be able to accurately forecast the impact of the Mini-Hollands schemes in order to minimise disruption and maximise benefits for all road users.

SYSTRA’S ROLE

SYSTRA was commissioned by the Borough to act as their transport planning and modelling advisor on the development of all Kingston mini-Holland schemes. We worked alongside the client and highway design team to assess schemes and identify benefits and impacts for all road users.

Following a baseline review of existing conditions, we were able to advise on options and identify measures to mitigate the traffic impact. We then developed a comprehensive VISSIM micro-simulation model of Kingston town centre and a separate VISSIM model for the landmark Dutch style Fountain Roundabout. Local junction models were created to test site specific cycle scheme proposals. The broader strategic transport impacts and material traffic patterns across the wider area were reviewed through an option development of TfL’s South London Highway Assignment Model (SoLHAM).