Transportation engineering

We undertake a wide range of transport engineering services, including
  • Road safety audits (all stages), including Safety Audit & Network Functionality (SANF) reviews
  • Scheme investigation studies for corridors, intersections and areas
  • Traffic signal designs and reviews
  • Speed management reviews/strategies
  • Pedestrian and cycle facility designs and reviews
  • Car parking and access design/reviews
  • Road safety and geometric design reviews
  • Level Crossing Safety Impact Assessments (LCSIAs)
  • Formal trials of new/innovative traffic control devices and design layouts
Notable recent projects include:

ViaStrada was commissioned by the Tautuku Trust to assess the current access road to the Cathedral Caves.  The caves are in an isolated location off the Southern Scenic Route SH92 in Otago.  The access road is a private road that leads to the car park at the start of the cave walk. The access road is steep, winding, and narrow. The caves can be visited at low tide, which puts pressure on the access road at these times. 

The ViaStrada assessment looked at access road issues and operational measures for the Trust to consider.

ViaStrada was commissioned to undertake a series of post construction safety audits for Waitaki District Council. Three audits were carried out: two looking at urban intersection treatments in Oamaru and one looking at five rural pavement rehabilitation projects in the Waitaki District.

The Hamilton City Council commissioned ViaStrada to undertake a review of physical barriers to cycling in the Hamilton central city, as well as identification of current and potential cycle routes.

The Christchurch City Council now has a record of all the markings and signs on the Peninsula. All traffic control devices requiring a Council resolution have now gone through the correct legislative process. The signs and markings are scheduled in the RAMM database with the respective resolution. The signs were photographed and the condition noted for the maintenance team.

As part of the Westfield expansion of Riccarton Mall, the intersection of Clarence Street and Dilworth Street was converted from a give way intersection to traffic signals. ViaStrada was commissioned by Westfield to design the new layout, undertake the community consultation and prepare final design plans for construction. Finalising the layout required working closely with the Christchurch City Council, the traffic signals contractor and the client. The new intersection with traffic signals was constructed in June 2009.

ViaStrada undertook and analysed counts of cycle traffic on the two existing sections of the Little River Rail Trail - between Prebbleton (on the south-western edge of Christchurch) and Lincoln; and between Motukarara and Little River (on Banks Peninsula, halfway to Akaroa). This was done on behalf of the Christchurch City and Selwyn District councils. 

We estimated the yearly use of the Birchs Road site to be 42,700 cyclists. For the Motukarara to Little River section of the rail trail the annual use was estimated to be 10,200 cyclists.

 

 

 

ViaStrada was engaged by Christchurch City Council to undertake the scheme design of the Hornby to Prebbleton part of the Christchurch to Little River Rail Trail. This followed on from our office undertaking the feasibility study for this section.

Jeanette, Megan and Andrew have recently undertaken feasibility assessments of seven walking and cycling infrastructure projects for Selwyn District Council. The projects included six shared off-road paths and opportunities to improve the Leeston Road bridge. We developed scheme plans for each of the projects and used these to estimate costs of construction and maintenance. We also predicted the demand for the facilities and calculated the value of expected benefits.

ViaStrada has reviewed a controversial cycle facility for Christchurch City Council and found people either love it or hate it!

Not much room for lane sharing Cycle lanes had been approved by North Shore City Council (NSCC) for installation on Lake Road between Esmonde Road and Hauraki Road. ViaStrada developed and reviewed alternative options for accommodating cyclists on this 23 m road corridor carrying four lanes of traffic.