Highways Agency

2006-2007 Travel Plan Site: Fifth Avenue Business Park - A1 Gateshead

Background

Fifth Avenue Business Park was identified for the development of an Area Travel Plan as part of the Highways Agency Team Valley Area Travel Plan. Work started in April 2005, in partnership with Gateshead Council, Nexus (the passenger transport executive), One NorthEast (the Regional Development Agency) and UK Lands (Land Owner).

Fifth Avenue offered an opportunity to develop initiatives in a clearly identified area within the Team Valley which could inform the use of a variety of smarter choice techniques in other areas. Part of the challenge on this site was to demonstrate how journeys to and from the site could be reduced to allow new development to take place on one of the few green field development areas within Team Valley

Fifth Avenue and Team valley are located adjacent to the A1 Gateshead Western Bypass which is a heavily congested stretch of the Strategic Road Network. Travel Planning activity is just one of the demand management techniques being developed by the Highways Agency to release capacity in this area and bring the associated economic and social benefits across the region.

The Fifth Avenue Business Park is occupied by 15 businesses employing just under 2000 people in primarily office based employment. The Trading Estate, originally completed in 1938, houses approximately 700 different businesses, employing 17,000 staff in a range of activities from manufacturing through to further education, retail, leisure and business headquarters. Fifth Avenue Business Park forms part of the more recent development on the Trading Estate and has been designed to have its own identity and appearance.

The estate is close to the A1, the primary north/south route in the North East, providing a direct link locally to the south-western parts of Newcastle and Gateshead and also the rest of the country.

The section of the A1 adjacent to Team Valley is a dual-carriageway trunk road carrying around 86,500 vehicles per day, a high proportion of which are Heavy Goods Vehicles. Congestion here is particularly severe, with the most recent Traffic Monitoring Report highlighting peak period stress factors of up to 1.32.  During the peak periods, more than 5000 vehicles travel to or from Team Valley, with many of those vehicles travelling via the A1.  Development on Team Valley is a further issue with the high level of congestion on the A1 presenting significant challenges.

Problems/Opportunities

A steering group was set up to investigate and discuss the issues facing the Business Park. The use of cars to access the site was slightly higher than for other employees within Team Valley, though later staff surveys showed peoples reasons, both real and perceived, to be broadly similar. The workforce, however, has a much more office based nature, with a far wider availability of on-line communication. This would allow greater potential for ongoing promotions and information tools.

The Steering Group identified the following key issues:

• Buses do not pick up near the Fifth Avenue offices in the evening peak, which deters people from using them;
• The walk to the bus stops is perceived to be unsafe with for example overhanging trees and no lighting, resulting in people being frightened to walk to get the bus;
• Problems due to internal signing in Team Valley;
• On street parking is an issue, with insufficient parking off-street leading staff to park on Kingsway, which results in access to companies being obstructed;
• Satellite navigation systems can send cars to wrong destination for some Fifth Avenue postcodes;
• Employees’ cars are needed for business purposes during the day;
• Uncertainty about the LinkUp bus service and whether this can be used by employees on Fifth Avenue;
• A lack of knowledge of who the correct authority is to report problems to for a variety of issues;
• Issues of accessing the site by bicycle, particularly at the busy A1 junction;
• The need for more publicity of the initiatives and information for employees on what is happening in Team Valley and Fifth Avenue with the Area Travel Plans.

Travel Patterns

Staff and employer surveys were undertaken during October 2005 and traffic counts were undertaken during November, 2005.

The Traffic counts revealed that c. 200 vehicles enter and leave Fifth Avenue during the morning and evening peak hours. However, it should be noted that staff surveys and the discussions within the Steering Group revealed that a considerable amount of on street parking was taking place on Team Valley, away from the Business Park, due to limited off-street parking.

The Staff Survey, returned by some 23% of employees, showed that over 80% of employees arrive by car, with 68% travelling alone in their vehicles. Nearly half of the staff on Fifth Avenue live within 5 miles of the site with 83% of these staff arriving alone in their cars.

With such a clear choice of car use, simply improving walking and cycle routes and facilities, or promotion of local bus services, was not considered likely to be successful. Although clearly important, the Steering Group decided to promote initiatives which would make the use of cars more efficient and acceptable.

Targets

A number of targets to encourage take up of travel plans and look at alternative ways to travel to Fifth Avenue by car as well as by more sustainable modes have been developed which collectively aim to achieve, by December 2008:

Measures

Crucial to the success of any travel planning measures at this site is the appointment of a full time travel plan co-ordinator. In September 2007 UK Lands Estates, representing a partnership agreement between themselves, Gateshead Council and One NorthEast, advertised for a travel plan co-ordinator to be responsible for the roll out of travel planning measures across the whole of Team Valley Trading Estate. This travel plan co-ordinator will have responsibility for the travel planning measures operating on Fifth Avenue. It is hoped the co-ordinator will be in post by the end of December, 2007.

A number of actions and measures have been delivered, some as part of the overall Team Valley Travel Planning Activity, and some specific to Fifth Avenue Business Park. These are:

1. Creation of a bespoke car sharing web-site http://www.fifthavenuecarshare.com/
2. As part of the development of accessible travel information for Team Valley through the creation of http://www.accessteamvalley.co.uk/ incorporating web-pages and information specific to Fifth Avenue Business Park.
3. Completion of a Fifth Avenue Business Park Area Travel Plan to address the travel issues facing employers and employees on the site.
4. Public launch and promotion of the http://www.fifthavenuecarshare.com/ to businesses on Fifth Avenue Business Park on National Liftshare Day, 14 June, 2007.
5. Circulation of Newsletters to all business on Fifth Avenue Business Park to inform of ongoing activity and relevant campaigns.
6. Steering Group Meetings with representatives from Highways Agency, Gateshead Council, One NorthEast, UK Land Estates and business on Fifth Avenue.
7. As part of road shows held across Team Valley Trading Estate and adjacent to Fifth Avenue 23-25 May, 2007, every business on Fifth Avenue received a personal visit to promote the Fifth Avenue Car Share Scheme and the Access Team Valley Website. Selected goods to remind employees of these services and where they can be found were left at each set of premises.

Future Activity

Once the travel plan co-ordinator for Team Valley has been appointed, the day to day management of www.fifthavenuecarshare.com, www.accessteamvalley.co.uk and the organisation and support of steering group meetings will be handed over, however, in the meantime the Highways Agency remains committed to supporting and promoting these services.

As part of our long term commitment to support and monitoring of Area Travel Plans, we have undertaken to monitor the impact of the Area Travel Plan and any Measures introduced. Interim 'snap-shot' monitoring will normally take place within 12 months of completion of the Area Travel Plan or the introduction of a measure, with more detailed monitoring taking place within 24 months.

The interim monitoring for Fifth Avenue commenced on 1 October, 2007. A completed report is expected to be published by January, 2008.

For More Information

For more information, contact the Project Manager, Rachael Elliott, Influencing Travel Behaviour and Planning Manager, North East at: 

• rachael.elliott@highways.gsi.gov.uk