What's in a name?

ViaStrada ("Via" rhymes with "mia" in "momma mia") is the name we have chosen for our company. 'Via" means by, or through; "strada" is Italian for street. Well designed streets function well for traffic, but equally importantly, they should also be good places for residents, kids, businesses, pedestrians and cyclists. Good towns and cities are facilitated "through" good streets; ViaStrada likes to help make good streets and places.

Some streets are more important for carrying traffic (arterials), while others (local streets) should have more of an access and community function. Local streets (comprising up to 80% of the street length of a town or city) can have lower traffic speeds to work better for pedestrians, cyclists and residents. Good urban design should be a feature of our streets, which is why ViaStrada is a signatory to the Urban Design Protocol.

Our logo emphasises the two words by using different colours. The "i" in "Via" is symbolic of a road centreline; the dark grey background symbolises a road surface. These colours are commonly used in road signs and markings, and are essential components of good traffic engineering design. The by-line under our logo "Traffic Engineering and Planning" describes our core business.

Our circular icons show a variety of travel modes, with the first five representing a common hierarchy that places pedestrians first, followed by cyclists, buses, trucks and cars. We in ViaStrada think of the needs of road users in this order to get our towns and cities working well, safe and accessible to all.