Comment
Draft Local Plan
Representation ID: 15880
Received: 11/05/2016
Respondent: National Highways
Conclusion (2)
In summary AECOM consider that the trip generation and distribution assumed by PBA can be considered reasonable. Some concerns have been raised regarding the assignment of trips across the network, primarily the decision to assign all trips between two zones to the same route, whereas in reality AECOM consider that a number of different routes may be used, particularly if routes become congested and users change to an alternative route to avoid the congestion.
However, AECOM consider that the current methodology could result in a robust impact at the strategic road network and therefore may be reasonable to take forward. If, however, the local highway authority plans to deter drivers from making use of certain routes or congestion hotspots cause a significant change in route choice, the total development trips on the strategic road network could alter from that presented within the Highway Modelling Report. The assessment undertaken suggests very high impacts to the SRN.
Junction capacity assessments of the strategic road network have not been presented within the Modelling Report, despite experiencing significant increases in trips at the junction as a result of development. It is recommended these are undertaken to determine the predicted operation of the junctions following Local Plan development and to determine what measures may be required to mitigate the impact. Consideration may also need to be given to undertaking merge/diverge assessments at various locations to determine whether changes are required to support the Local Plan development.
See attached