Design guidance for B4063 Cycle Route in Gloucestershire

The request was partially successful.

Christopher Chiswell

Dear Highways England Company Limited,

You are a key partner for design/delivery of the B4063 cycle route in Gloucestershire. Review by several bodies has highlighted concerns about the compliance of this route to current government guidance, including feedback from the Department for Transport. I would like to understand Highways England's (HE) expectations of the scheme, and how these were translated into instruction provided across the design team (Atkins & Gloucestershire County Council). 

Please could you provide:
1) HE's understanding of the schemes design and construction requirements/criteria, including;
- Requests made by Gloucestershire County Council of the scheme, such as level of compliance against LTN 1/20, route widths, and space reallocation
- Design guidance/expectations set on reallocation of highway space away from motorised vehicles, including lane width and lane reductions, and the party within the design team responsible for these
- Design guidance/expectations set on parking spaces, public transport space allocation and cycle route/footpath/shared path widths, and the party within the design team responsible for these
- Any 'red lines' or absolute/essential design criteria, and the party within the design team responsible for setting these

2) Any assessment made by, or received by, HE of the route against current design standards, including LTN 1/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design, such as;
- overall route assessment
- detailed breakdown of specific route segments/junctions
- latest CLoS and JAT scores (required by LTN 1/20 1.1.2 for government funded schemes)

3) The latest version of the benefits assessment tools for the B4063 route, (with worksheets and calculations where available), including the latest;
- AMAT Active Mode Appraisal Toolkit assessment
- DfT Uplift Tool calculations and outputs
- Investment objectives and critical success factors
- Latest value for money assessment

Yours faithfully,

Christopher Chiswell

Highways England,

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South West Enquiries,

Our Ref: FOI 101883

Dear Mr Chiswell

Thank you for your request for information relating to Design guidance for
B4063 Cycle Route in Gloucestershire dated 2 March 2021. I am dealing
with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The due date for issuing a response is 31 March 2021.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote reference number FOI 101883 in any future
communications.

Kind Regards

Phill Roberts | Administrator | South West Operations

Highways England | Ash House | Falcon Road, Sowton Ind. Estate | Exeter |
EX2 7LB.

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Christopher Chiswell

Dear South West Enquiries,

Please could I have an update on this request as it is now due. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Christopher Chiswell

South West Enquiries,

6 Attachments

  • Attachment

    A40 Glos Cycle Study 4.pdf

    10.6M Download View as HTML

  • Attachment

    560023 A40 Glos Cycling B4063 VM Sum Rev D.PDF.pdf

    7.6M Download View as HTML

  • Attachment

    564482 A40 Glo shire Cycl B4063 PSF.PDF.pdf

    1.1M Download View as HTML

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  • Attachment

    564482 A40 Glo shire Cycl B4063 WCH CIF.XLSX.xlsx

    622K Download View as HTML

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Our Ref: 101883

Dear Mr Chiswell

I am writing to confirm that we have now completed our search for the
information, which you requested on 2 March 2021.

Please note that some of the documents have had redactions made to them.
These redactions were made under Section 40 of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 for personal information.

Taking your questions in order –

1) HE's understanding of the schemes design and construction
requirements/criteria, including;

- Requests made by Gloucestershire County Council of the scheme, such as
level of compliance against LTN 1/20, route widths, and space reallocation
– the original concept of the scheme began in 2015 and as such was before
the introduction of LTN1/20. The prelim/outline design was completed under
British standards used by the county council at that time. Since the
introduction of LTN1/20 in 2020 the detailed design has been updated to
reflect the new standards with the understanding that in some locations
the constraints of the existing network may not allow for 100% compliance.

- Design guidance/expectations set on reallocation of highway space away
from motorised vehicles, including lane width and lane reductions, and the
party within the design team responsible for these – Highways England (HE)
are not responsible for the design and this falls to Gloucestershire
County Council (GCC) as the designer under CDM. Our expectation is that
GCC design a fit for purpose scheme between Gloucester rail station and
GCHQ following the B4063. The design guidance/standards are set by GCC as
they are the highway authority in this location and they are responsible
for the design.

- Design guidance/expectations set on parking spaces, public transport
space allocation and cycle route/footpath/shared path widths, and the
party within the design team responsible for these – as above.

- Any 'red lines' or absolute/essential design criteria, and the party
within the design team responsible for setting these – HE’s expectation is
that GCC design a fit for purpose scheme between Gloucester rail station
and GCHQ following the B4063, with the aim of making it safe, improving
connectivity, reducing severance and inclusive for all users.

2) Any assessment made by, or received by, HE of the route against current
design standards, including LTN 1/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design, such as;

- overall route assessment – Route Study and Options report attached.
- detailed breakdown of specific route segments/junctions – Route Study
and Options report attached.

- latest CLoS and JAT scores (required by LTN 1/20 1.1.2 for government
funded schemes) – This is for local authorities and is not required for
Highways England funded schemes. This scheme was developed and approved
for detailed design under HE’s investment decision committee for the users
and communities designated funds prior to the introduction of LTN 1/20.

3) The latest version of the benefits assessment tools for the B4063
route, (with worksheets and calculations where available), including the
latest;

- AMAT Active Mode Appraisal Toolkit assessment – version used in
application for design funding is attached.  It was used to supplement the
HE SAR (also attached).

- DfT Uplift Tool calculations and outputs – DfT uplift tool not used in
application for design funding or at original VM assessment.  Forecast
uplift was based on road user intercept surveys and similar examples from
Sustrans (this is explained in detail in the route study and summarised in
the VM summary)

- Investment objectives and critical success factors – to address the
safety issues that currently arise as a result of cyclists using the A40
between Elmbridge Court and Arle Court using the 70mph section that passes
over the M5 J11 Golden Valley and the subsequent cycling fatalities that
have occurred on this section. Early in the study it was expanded beyond
purely safety driven into seeking to provide for cyclists of all ages and
abilities between the main hubs of Cheltenham and Gloucester looking at
all roads and pathways in the area to reduce severance.  The scheme is now
part of HE’s Users and Communities programme in the south west under the
overarching objectives of improving safety and investing in building new
infrastructure, and enhancing existing facilities, to encourage
sustainable, non-motorised forms of transport.

- Latest value for money assessment – SAR attached.

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If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
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Yours sincerely

Phill Roberts | Administrator | South West Operations

Highways England | Ash House | Falcon Road, Sowton Ind. Estate | Exeter |
EX2 7LB.

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This email may contain information which is confidential and is intended
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Highways England Company Limited | General enquiries: 0300 123 5000
|National Traffic Operations Centre, 3 Ridgeway, Quinton Business Park,
Birmingham B32 1AF |
[7]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... |
[8][email address]

Registered in England and Wales no 9346363 | Registered Office: Bridge
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