Highways Agency

Travel Plan Schemes

Listed on the right-hand side of this page is a selection of the current Travel Plan schemes that the Highways Agency is working on.

These support the sustainable development and transport aims of the government and also help to meet the challenges laid down by Stern and Eddington.

We prioritise who to work with based on the number of employees working at a particular site, proximity to our network and existing traffic levels on the particular stretch of our network that is being impacted upon. 

The Agency has made a conscious effort to build a diverse programme of Travel Plan schemes and the differing types, with examples, are highlighted below.

High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes - 'Locking in' the Benefits

The Agency is determined to investigate the degree to which priority lanes can complement adjacent 'smarter choices' initiatives to change travel behaviour.

This has a significant overlap with Integrated Demand Management (IDM).

Sustainable Development - Spatial Planning Solutions

At Blythe Valley, Solihull, and Howbury Park, Bexley, (see below, within 'Freight') the Highways Agency has worked with developers and planning authorities, to negotiate a travel plan, through the mechanism of a Section 106 agreement, as part of the planning consent. This will include regular monitoring and review of the Travel Plans' performance and the implementation of fallback measures, such as access control (or traffic management), to ensure the original outcome is achieved.  For more on this scheme, please follow the link on the right hand side of this page or visit: http://www.blythevalleypark.com/.

The Agency is working in similar ways on many other schemes to achieve sustainable development.

Freight Travel Plans

At Shellhaven, Thurrock, Howbury Park, Bexley and Port of Felixstowe, implementation of freight management travel plans have been agreed with the developers, with the aim of reducing vehicle movements to and from the site.  At Howbury, the Section 106 has been agreed.

Residential Travel Plans

At Ransome Road, Northampton, Eastern Quarry, Dartford and Northstowe, Cambridgeshire, the Agency is working to develop Travel Plan initiatives that will mitigate the impacts of residential developments on our network.

Growth Area Travel Plans

At Wellingborough East, A45, the Agency has worked with the developer and planning authority to negotiate a Section 106 agreement to lessen the impact on the Trunk Road network of this growth area.  This involved implementing access control measures to complement the Travel Plan.

Assisting Regeneration

At Cornwall College, the travel plan developed by the Highways Agency is supported by the Camborne-Pool-Redruth (CPR), Urban Regeneration Company (URC), planning authority and South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA).

Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA)

Part of the Agency's selection criteria for Travel Plan scheme selection takes into account AQMAs and evolving development plans. This supports the increasing government focus on reducing emissions and improving the environment. For instance, our scheme at Grove Park, Leicester will help to improve air quality along the section of the M1, J20-J21, which runs through a prioritised AQMA.

One of voluntary travel plans implemented in 2007/08, University of West of England, lies within a prioritised AQMA adjacent to the M32/M4 near Bristol. The implementation of this travel plan contributes towards the Agency's air quality improvement target.

'Trip Credits'

Even the most sustainable developments will, in most cases, generate new trips, despite the inclusion of a Travel Plan.  The Agency is pioneering an innovative approach to mitigate the impacts of new development called the "trip credit" approach. This involves 'carving out' capacity headroom from surrounding, existing developments to offset this new traffic. This is an alternative to substantial road improvements, especially where it is impractical to provide them. This approach relies on detailed negotiation with developers in formulating a delivery and compliance framework for rolling out travel plan initiatives over a wide area outside the development boundary. The 'trip credits' approach is being used at Ransome Road, Northampton, Northstowe, near Cambridge, Northbridge, Huntingdon and North Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Leisure Travel Plans

In the early stages of development, the Agency is looking to work with the tourism/leisure industries with a view to implementing innovative visitor travel plans.

All of the Travel Plan schemes summarised above, required excellent partnership working with local authorities, developers and other private businesses.

Travel Plan Benefits Promotion

When working on voluntary schemes, we then approach developers and employers by highlighting benefits to both businesses and employees, such as:

• improved site access, fewer delays (this can be assessed locally by the HA through site specific studies)
• better staff timekeeping
• improved staff morale and thus retention (reduced recruitment and knowledge transfer costs) – a green employer may be more attractive
• health benefits linked to cycling and walking (TfL research)
• contribution to reduced environmental impact, including CO2 (act on CO2 campaign)
• cleaner air, improvements at AQMAs  (may not be able to put a measure on this)
• reduced fleet operating costs
• reduced parking management costs (including cost of dealing with overfull car parks, illegal parking elsewhere
• potential for reallocation of car parking space to a more sustainable and potentially more profitable (for the owner) use. - (earlier TfL work on parking space costs could shape approach to this)
• employer gains a sustainable image which will enhance its reputation (and potentially its business bottom line through free corporate promotion)

To support the above, the Agency has now developed a monitoring strategy for Travel Plans, which measures outcomes across a number of indicators ranging from changing people's attitudes, extent of shift to sustainable modes, "factory gate" trip rates and impact on the nearest HA network node. Robust outcome based monitoring strategies are uncommon in the travel plan industry. Most non-HA schemes are only measures based. The HA's approach is designed to determine the value that such schemes can offer in order to inform and shape the HA's future ITB programme.

Integrated Demand Management

The HA is preparing an overall 'management' strategy for M25 called Integrated Demand Management (IDM). This is an holistic approach based upon making best use of the existing roadspace and locking in the benefits of widening.

IDM takes a "corridor" approach, in which smarter choices measures are deployed over a wide area to support on-road demand management measures:

• Active Traffic Management (e.g. variable speed limits, lane management, hard shoulder running)
• Motorway Access Management (traffic lights on motorway slip roads)
• Priority Lanes, such as car sharing
• Traveller Information
• Incident Management
• Wide Area Traffic Management (where Agency and Local Highway Authority traffic management systems are integrated)

Bespoke IDM solutions are being developed to match the wide variation in conditions around the different parts of the M25.  Junction spacing, growth levels, type of traffic, alternative routes/models etc., all play a part together with the need to optimise use of roadspace and achieve best value.