Sweco’s end-to-end Transport Modelling services enable you to make informed, evidence-based decisions to shape infrastructure planning, design and policy.
Transport Modelling is at the heart of informed planning, design and investment in transport infrastructure. Our expert team delivers tailored modelling solutions that help you and your stakeholders understand how both people and vehicles move around the built environment – now and in the future.
Whether you need strategic demand forecasts, operational junction analysis or high-fidelity microsimulations to support business cases and engagement, we can refresh current tools or tailor new models to meet your project’s specific requirements and specifications.
Our modellers offer a full range of services, all supported by specialist capabilities in data collection, traffic and active travel demand prediction, flow analysis, mobility simulation and travel behaviour assessment.
Strategic modelling offers the big-picture insight needed to guide regional policy, major infrastructure and long-term investments – primarily during RIBA Stages 1–2. It supports early planning, land use forecasting and scheme optioneering.
Focusing on Travel Demand Modelling, it analyses trip numbers, purposes, users, and transport modes. We apply trip generation, distribution, mode choice and assignment methods using tools like Saturn, Cube, PTV VISUM and EMME. Integrated platforms also test modal shift, climate policies, and spatial strategies.
Ideal for:
Local Plan evidence bases
Multi-modal corridor studies
Future year demand forecasts
Scheme prioritisation and appraisal
2. Junction Modelling
At the local level, we use junction modelling to analyse the operation and capacity of roundabouts, signals, and priority junctions. This work typically supports RIBA Stages 2–3, informing planning applications, development access strategies, and safety-led designs.
Using industry-standard tools (e.g. LINSIG, ARCADY, PICADY), we undertake Traffic Flow Analysis to measure queue lengths, delays, and level of service under current and future traffic conditions.
Ideal for:
Development access design
Signal optimisation and coordination
Local highway improvement schemes
Road Safety Audits
3. Microsimulation
Microsimulation uses advanced software platforms (e.g. , Aimsun) to replicate how individual vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians move and interact in complex urban environments. It blends Transport Simulation and Traffic Flow Analysis to give a dynamic view of how infrastructure operates under pressure.
These models are particularly valuable during RIBA Stages 3–4, when detail is required to support construction staging, public realm design, and stakeholder engagement.
Ideal for:
Town centre and high street redesigns
Active travel corridors and bus priority routes
Construction traffic phasing
Traffic management for major events
Our specialist services
Traffic Data Collection Methods
Robust transport modelling begins with accurate, context-specific data. We employ a wide range of Traffic Data Collection Methods, including:
Automatic Traffic Counters (ATCs)
Manual Classified Counts
Bluetooth/Wi-Fi tracking
ANPR surveys
Roadside interviews and household travel surveys
Mobile Network Data
Collected data feeds directly into model calibration and validation, ensuring that all forecasts and simulations reflect real-world travel patterns and volumes.
Travel Behaviour Analysis
We go beyond vehicle counts to understand the motivations, choices, and constraints that shape how people travel. Through Travel Behaviour Analysis, we assess:
Mode choice preferences
Peak-period travel patterns
First/last-mile connectivity
Impact of socioeconomic factors on travel decisions
This behavioural insight informs not only modelling inputs but also the design of interventions that aim to encourage modal shift, reduce car dependency, and promote inclusive access.
Traffic Prediction
Traffic Prediction is central to assessing how future development, land use, or policy will impact the network. Using scenario-based forecasting, we test:
Housing and employment growth
Changes in travel behaviour
Modal shift targets and net-zero pathways
Impacts of new infrastructure (e.g., roads, transit hubs)
Predictions are aligned with local and national planning horizons (e.g. 2030, 2040) and are often used in Business Case development and Environmental Appraisal.
Traffic Flow Analysis
We provide in-depth Traffic Flow Analysis for both steady-state and dynamic conditions. This involves examining key indicators such as:
Volume-to-capacity ratios
Speed-flow relationships
Queuing patterns and delays
Lane utilisation and saturation flow rates
These insights are vital for validating junction designs, understanding congestion points, and determining appropriate mitigation measures.
Transport Simulation
Transport Simulation refers to the detailed visual and numerical modelling of how transport systems function under different scenarios. It is often used to:
Communicate complex impacts to stakeholders
Test options for pedestrian and cyclist safety
Support Construction Logistics Planning
Demonstrate the operational performance of new layouts
Our simulations are calibrated using real-world traffic data and can be fully integrated into presentations and public consultations.
Transport Modelling outputs are foundational to a range of planning and appraisal processes. Our work supports:
Workflow
Modelling Contribution
Environmental Planning / EIA
Forecast traffic volumes and emissions; inform Air Quality & Noise models
Transport Policy & Strategy
Test future scenarios; support Local Transport Plans & decarbonisation pathways
Active Travel Scheme Design & Funding
Model impacts of reallocation and forecast usage for LCWIPs, ATF bids
New Road Layout & Junction Design
Validate performance and safety under projected demand
Business Cases & Appraisal
Supply demand forecasts, traffic impact, and cost-benefit inputs using appraisal tools such as TUBA, COBA, QUADRO, MyRIAD and WITA, aligned with DfT TAG/WebTAG guidance.
Accessibility & Equity Assessments
Inform access to key services and inclusivity measures
Microsimulation, multi-modal interaction, active travel integration
Stage 4: Technical Design
Operational phasing, traffic management planning
Stage 5–6: Construction & Handover
Simulation of temporary works, support for logistics and delivery
Our modelling expertise includes the development of transport models from inception – including data collection requirements, use of big data and other emerging sources for model calibration and validation – through to forecasting and option testing.
Transport Modelling as a driver for placemaking
Transport modelling is not just a tool for managing movement – it plays a critical role in shaping the quality and character of places. By understanding how people travel and interact with infrastructure, modelling enables planners and designers to create environments that are safer, more accessible, and better aligned with community needs.
In place-based planning, transport modelling helps unlock the potential of high streets, public spaces, and new developments by integrating mobility with land use, economic activity and social value. Through scenario testing and multi-modal simulations, we can ensure that transport investments support walkable neighbourhoods, active travel networks and vibrant public realms – as well as 15-minute cities.
Our models help clients assess how transport choices influence footfall, air quality and connectivity to jobs and services. This evidence base is vital when securing funding, guiding design decisions, and demonstrating how infrastructure enhances not only mobility, but also liveability, equity and place identity.
Whether revitalising a town centre or designing a new district, transport modelling ensures that infrastructure investment contributes meaningfully to placemaking outcomes.
Together with our clients and the collective knowledge of our engineers, consultants and other specialists, we co-create solutions to address urbanisation, capture the power of digitalisation, and make our societies more sustainable. With international multi-disciplinary teams, we can call on the right insight and technical capability at the right time from across Buildings, Infrastructure, Advisory & Planning and Compliance.
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