Transportation engineering

ViaStrada has been commissioned by VicRoads (the state roading authority of Victoria, Australia) to undertake research on physical bicycle lane separators. Undertaking the trials included site selection, design of the empirical study and evaluation of the results. The aim of the study is to establish whether the devices are safe for all road users and effective in reducing the occurrence of drivers utilising the cycle lane. The trials are currently under way.

ViaStrada was engaged by DOC to carry out a post construction safety audit of the shared walking and cycle tracks to Franz Josef and Fox glaciers.

ViaStrada was engaged by Nelson City Council to provide a concept design including cross sections, rough order costs and scheme alignment plans for a proposed cycle facility that is suitable for use by cyclists of all ability and confidence levels, with the proposed facility ideally separated from moving traffic.

ViaStrada was commissioned by Waimakariri District Council (WDC) to investigate and quantify the pedestrian activity at five locations on Williams Street in the Kaiapoi town centre between Hilton Street and Charles Street. ViaStrada engaged Lowdown Data to undertake pedestrian and motor vehicle turning counts using video collection units. This technology allows the client to gather survey information at low cost. This survey technique also obtained queue lengths at the Hilton Street and Charles Street roundabouts to inform design options.

ViaStrada was commissioned by Auckland Transport to edit and review a red light camera pilot evaluation draft report and provide an international literature review. The project was completed in one week.

The Kaiapoi Town Centre, Integrated Transport Plan involved site visits, consultation with stakeholders including trucking firms and retailers, working closely with a Community Reference Group, SIDRA intersection modelling, option identification and assessment, and concept designs.

We don't just rely on high tech software, but when we have to design to low tolerances, we do real-world simulation testing to confirm design parameters and build stakeholder support!

This scoping study for a separated bicycle facility (where cyclists are physically separated from motor vehicles) analysed a variety of routes and design cross-sections between the University of Canterbury and the Christchurch central city. The project, which preceded the Christchurch earthquakes, provides valuable information on the feasibility and costs of separated cycle facilities. There has been considerable public support for cycling through the CCC's public consultation on how to rebuild Christchurch.

Reduced traffic speeds have been shown to improve central city liveability and street activity levels. This 2011 ViaStrada project suggested the boundaries, specific techniques, design concepts, and implementation steps needed to create a pedestrian-friendly "slow core" for Christchurch. A new 30km/h slow core has now been implemented in 2016, largely mirroring the area suggested by ViaStrada.

Christchurch City Council commissioned an investigation into ways of improving pedestrian level of service (LOS) at traffic signals in the central city. The underlying hypothesis of this project is that improving the pedestrian level of service of the central city will increase prosperity.

ViaStrada developed a method of measuring pedestrian LOS and applied this to 32 signalised intersections with 110 pedestrian crossings to develop a detailed proposal for each.