project overview: reading 2020 transport
Reading city 2020 transport
Project overview by PBA Associates
Project type: transport
Summary
- Five-year partnership agreement with Reading Borough Council
- More than 50 strategic transport projects in progress
- £3 million of European Union funds secured for Reading Station upgrades
Key facts
Client:
Reading Borough Council
Location:
Reading, Berkshire
Contract value:
N/A
Schedule:
November 2002 - present
Client reference:
Name: Pat Baxter
Position: Head of Transport
Tel: 0118 939 0813
e-mail: pat.baxter@reading.gov.uk
Professional team
Engineering, Environmental, Structures & Transport Planning Consultants: Peter Brett Associates
The project
Reading’s position as the economic and retail capital of the Thames Valley brings many opportunities for sustainable growth as well as significant transport challenges. Reading Borough Council’s visionary approach is delivering policies, strategies and schemes for a series of sustainable transport solutions that underpin all aspects of Reading’s City 2020 vision for the future.
Reading in Berkshire lies at the heart of the Thames Valley and has rapidly become one of the UK’s fastest growing centres for business, shopping, transport and leisure. In recent years it has attracted several major international companies, including BG, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Oracle, Prudential, Thames Water and Yell to its town centre and two major business parks - Thames Valley Park to the east and GreenPark to the south. These developments have been positive additions to Reading but have also placed enormous strain on Reading’s transport infrastructure.
Project history
Working in partnership with Reading Borough Council (RBC), Peter Brett Associates (PBA) is developing a transport strategy for Reading based on three principal themes: providing alternatives to travel by private car, managing the demand for travel and improving management of the transport networks. Successful implementation of the strategy will enhance Reading’s position as the capital of the Thames Valley and an important gateway to Europe.
PBA has been involved in the development of Reading’s infrastructure for more than 25 years. Based on this unrivalled knowledge of Reading and the major regeneration opportunities in the town centre, PBA proactively approached RBC to present proposals for an integrated transport strategy that focuses on people movement across the whole of Reading and surrounding areas.
With 50 per cent funding from RBC and 50 per cent secured from Prudential, developers of GreenPark and the proposed Kennet Valley Park, PBA undertook the Reading Area Transportation Study. This unique appraisal of Reading’s transportation strategy was conducted in the light of development proposals for the town that will create a huge demand for travel over the next 20 years. The study identified that the capacities of the road, rail and bus networks are insufficient to meet this demand and that a series of radical improvements and innovations are essential to support the proposed developments.
Problems overcome
PBA developed a SATURN traffic model to identify existing demand patterns. The study identified that the levels of demand justified a radical new approach to transportation in the Reading area. Proposals include a ring of park and ride interchanges that could ultimately provide up to 9,000 spaces, orbital bus services and a new mass transit system focused around a new interchange at Reading Station.
Partnering agreement
RBC’s continuing drive to progress its transport strategy led to a three-stage bidding process through the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) to progress and implement the concepts developed by PBA. We understand that more than 50 companies expressed an interest in the contract. Ten companies were short-listed of which five were later invited to submit detailed proposals in two separate bid documents followed by interviews. This led to PBA’s selection and appointment as RBC’s strategic partner in a formal, five-year Partnering Agreement on the basis of our visionary approach to partnering, our urban regeneration expertise and our unrivalled knowledge of Reading and its infrastructure.
PBA’s specialist team of strategic transport and master planners, railway engineers and urban designers were engaged to work on the Reading Station Area Redevelopment (STAR) project, a key part of RBC’s integrated transport strategy.
New railway station
Reading’s railway station is a key hub in the national rail network and is the UK’s second busiest interchange outside of London with more than 15 million passengers passing through each year. This figure has been growing at 7% per annum. It has been identified as a key bottleneck on the Great Western Mainline Railway in three separate multi-modal studies and there is an urgent need to implement an upgrade scheme in a national, regional and local context.
The new Reading Station area will become the focus of a new city centre quarter, linking the current centre with the River Thames. The Station area will include a new rail station, a public transport interchange, and related mixed-use developments with new and refurbished public streets and spaces integrated with strategies for the city centre and for the city as a whole. An Initial Development Framework for the Interchange was completed in November 2002.
Funding
With PBA’s support, RBC has secured some €3 million of European Union funding towards improved facilities at Reading station through two separate funding applications. Working closely with lead partner South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), RBC received a £2 million grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the Interreg IIIB North West Europe HSTconnect project which is aimed at improving connections and access to the high speed train network across Europe. RBC is one of 14 strategic and investment partners throughout England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in the HSTconnect project, which was formally launched in Liège and Maastricht in April 2005.
A second bid was submitted under the TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Networks) programme. Reading was supported by the Europe Division of the UK Government’s Department for Transport in securing £1 million towards the development of the station concourse design and business case for the proposed major upgrade.
The station project is a long term redevelopment scheme aimed at delivering sustainable communities. PBA developed a series of potential phases for the overall plans to demonstrate early delivery and progress on the ground.
1st phase
The first of these phases Reading Station Interchange and Environmental Enhancement Scheme has now been fully implemented. To enhance the local environment, extensive improvements have been made to the area surrounding the station and to the approaches, including new street lighting, areas of improved paving and the removal of street clutter. To enhance the passenger waiting environment, a purpose-built 42-bay, 105 metre (345 feet) structure has been built incorporating bus waiting facilities, Real Time Passenger Information, a taxi waiting area and a central sheltered walkway. Significant improvements have also been made to relieve congestion in the proximity of the station at peak times, including removal of ‘through traffic’, a new wide pedestrian crossing, and a redesigned junction and roundabout layout to promote the use of the short-stay car park.
Under the partnership agreement, PBA has also been working with RBC to develop a radical scheme to transform Reading’s inner distribution road (IDR). The proposed scheme will create space for urban regeneration, environmental enhancements and ‘streetscape’ improvements. Dedicated bus and cycle lanes on parts of the IDR will help to enhance pedestrian and cycle access.
PBA developed a unique approach to car park strategic planning and development for Reading. Using key performance indicators, the ‘In Focus’ tool is used to assess the benefits of a series of options for new and upgraded public car parks in different locations, and has led to plans to provide new decked car parks for the City Centre.
Other key projects include the development of a mass rapid transit system, new railway and river crossings and intelligent transport systems. PBA continues to provide advice to Reading Borough Council on more than 50 transport projects that are integral to achieving the town’s city centre 2010 vision and 2020 community strategy. As a result of its activities to date, the Council has achieved the highest rank in the Government’s national appraisal for the performance of transport authorities throughout the UK, and has achieved ‘centre of excellence’ status.
