Loans to Troon Active Travel Corridor

Project Overview

Undertake a feasibility study, options appraisal, concept design and detailed design of an active travel corridor connecting the community of Loans to the railway station in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland.

The Challenge

The main objective for the project is to provide a safe, direct and attractive route for walking and cycling for all users. This would in turn provide a real opportunity for a modal shift from private vehicle use to sustainable and active transport options.

The Solution

After attending stakeholder engagement meetings with the local schools, the council, the community council and speaking to elected members Sweco and the ARA decided the most efficient means to communicate the ideas and ambitions of the project was to present the design in a way all users can understand. Sweco converted the traditional 3D engineering design into a 3D visualisation video of the entire route. The video shows every detail of the scheme included buildings, carriageways and other notable points to allow users to understand the context of the scheme. Sweco and the ARA then took this a step further and created a 360◦ Virtual Reality concept, this took the projects innovation to the next level. Using Occulus Virtual Reality goggles, Sweco installed the project on these to allow users to have a pedestrian or cyclists perspective of the route.

Primary Services

• Active and sustainable travel
• Strategic advice and planning
• Landscape design
• Traffic engineering / Highway design
• Stakeholder engagement
• GIS and digital reporting

The design of the corridor pushed the boundaries in terms of specifications to the highest possible limits creating a full segregated 5.5m wide path using sustainable materials and undertaking embedded carbon reduction analysis to reduce the projects impacts even further and improve its efficiency.

The Result and Benefit to the Client

This design and technology approach has opened the door to a new way of engagement that historically has followed more traditional means. The ambition shown by the ARA in challenging Sweco to deliver a more innovative, efficient and exciting tool to solve a long-standing challenge in engagement has resulted in hugely successful community support for the project and for the future of active travel infrastructure for the local authority area.

The feedback we received from the stakeholders was very positive, not only regarding the use of the technology but also served to overcome the original challenge of getting a full understanding of the project and how it ties into the existing infrastructure.

The ARA have since commissioned Sweco to undertake several other active travel designs and also develop an active travel strategy for the local authority area.

The project team won “The Best Use of New Technology” at the Highways Awards 2020 for this project.

The Ayrshire Roads Alliance (ARA) has worked on this multi-year project with the Active Travel team (Edinburgh) within Sweco for the last two years. They have been professional throughout, bringing innovation and market leading technology to the project. Phase 1 of the project had quite unique political challenges to overcome resulting in multiple redesigns which could have been disheartening. However the whole team stepped forward and displayed true professionalism and commitment in the service they provide.

 

Phase 2 will raise active travel in South Ayrshire to a new level with not only a class-leading design but also achieving a zero net carbon footprint for the project, this will only be possible with the continued support and guidance from the active travel team. The team has had a major positive impact on project delivery within South Ayrshire which will be enjoyed by thousands for years to come.

David Manson Technical Officer, Ayrshire Roads Alliance