TIP 2023 Woodhouse Lane Project Brief
TIP 2023 Woodhouse Lane Project Brief
TIP 2023 Woodhouse Lane Project Brief
Transport Strategy
Merrion House
Leeds
LS2 8BB
31st January 2023
Leeds City Council (LCC) are working to develop a Mass Transit proposal to connect Headingley to
Leeds City Centre. Part of this route will run past the University of Leeds at Woodhouse Lane and the
junction with St Marks Road.
LCC are looking for a consultant to advise on the design and impact of this space.
Review existing Mass Transit systems and make a recommendation on the technology to be
considered.
Consider the design implications of the new route past Parkinson steps and
o Suggest a new junction layout for St Marks Road / A660
o Recommend a one-way access route for vehicles on Blenheim Terrace
o Propose a way to improve public realm design
Assess the impacts on network traffic
Work out a plan to engage stakeholders
Consider the economic impact of the proposal
Plan for current bus use and the frequency of the new Mass Transit service
Assess environmental impacts from reduced traffic
1. A group presentation made to the Institute for Transport Studies on 27th February.
2. A Group Report of the proposals, detailing your recommendations and vision for the site.
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1. Scheme Objectives and Key Research Questions:
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way the One-Way road should flow, including consideration of existing business access and
the impact on the junctions at either end of the section.
(iii) Parkinson Steps Public Realm:
Having reviewed the One-Way changes to Blenheim Terrace, consider the access point to the
university and propose improvements to public realm space in this area, being mindful of
access to the university, drop off facilities, pedestrian and cycle access.
Geometry design of highways should refer to the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB). The
Manual for Streets (MfS) explains how to place traffic and other activities in our communities, and
where buildings and spaces, and the needs of people, not just of vehicles, shape the area. Junction
design should be supported by an assessment of the capacity, calculated either manually or using
specialised software (see Section 3 Resources). You are expected to describe the input data and
comment on the modelled/calculated outputs.
A lecture on design of signal-controlled junctions will be provided by Dr Chandra Balijepalli. Students
are encouraged to make use of materials provided in module TRAN5241M. Groups who need expert
consultation on road / junction design should book an appointment with Dr Angelica Salas Jones.
1.2.3 Task 3: Modelling plan using SATURN
LCC would welcome a plan as to how the proposed scheme could be modelled. Specifically, the plan
should outline a number of logical steps that will be taken to model the scheme using SATURN. These
steps should include (though are not necessarily limited to):
(i) Description of ‘do-minimum’ SATURN network (i.e. without the scheme), that will be supplied
by LCC, and any cordoning required for this network;
(ii) Specification of changes required to be made to the (cordoned) do-minimum network to
represent the scheme;
(iii) Description of do-minimum trip matrix (supplied by LCC);
(iv) Justification of changes to be made to the do-minimum trip matrix to take into account
differing assumptions about the demand effects of the scheme (thus resulting in a number of
revised trip matrices);
(v) Specification of performance indicators (PIs) that will be quantified by using SATURN, showing
how SATURN output can be used to calculate these PIs;
(vi) Description of which SATURN modules will be used for carrying out the SATURN analysis,
specifying what data is required for each module; and
(vii) A template for a final report to be produced (in the future) on the modelling results, once they
have been produced.
Accompanying the plan, a short overview should be provided indicating any shortcomings in using
SATURN for modelling the scheme, indicating how these shortcomings might be overcome. It should
be emphasised that groups are not being asked to actually model their scheme; rather, they are being
asked to devise a plan as to how such modelling could be carried out in the future. Specific guidance
on using SATURN and expectations around the SATURN analysis will be provided in a lecture given by
Dr Paul Timms. Such guidance will make use of material provided in module TRAN5291M.
1.2.4 Task 4: Stakeholders engagement
A consultation and stakeholder engagement plan should be prepared for the scheme. The purpose of
the consultation is to:
(i) Understand public and stakeholders’ opinions about the scheme, and
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(ii) Gather insights relevant to the scheme which may be held by members of the public and
stakeholders.
(i) Understand the needs of future users, including residents and visitors - the first part of this
task will be to identify both trip attractors and trip origins in the A660 corridor and
particularly those which are likely to drive demand for the 'University' stop on this service;
(ii) Understand the size of public transport flows - including current flows and the potential for
growth;
(iii) Understand the flow capacity provided by different Mass Transit technologies, and relate
these to the A660 context - taking into account the future role of buses alongside any Mass
Transit development, and possible integration between them;
(iv) Focus on the stop location in detail, use the knowledge gained to plan a stop that best
serves the users in terms of location and access, is of a suitable capacity, and can
accommodate the type of Mass Transit system your analysis suggests is appropriate.
(i) Produce an appraisal of your proposed access improvements to the new Mass Transit, and
(ii) Consider how this strengthens the appraisal of the scheme. The appraisal will be a mixture
of quantitative and qualitative outputs.
Resources available to help students with this task will include: the review of Mass Transit
connectivity, accessibility and land use for West Yorkshire Combined Authority by Nellthorp and
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Johnson (2022); NOMIS data on residential density and employment locations at detailed spatial
level; any public transport flow data from own count; GIS/mapping tools available as standard
through the university; references to other key sources including analysis by Centre for Cities (UK)
and relevant international evidence.
The work will use a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. You will be briefed on this task
in a lecture given by Dr John Nellthorp. As part of the task, students will be asked devise a strategy
for estimating the numbers of potential users and to organise a targeted count of current bus users
as a contribution to this.
Then each group will select ONE from the following two tasks to investigate, and report your findings
in the Group Report:
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through any rescheduling proposed by your group. It is recommended to consult with Dr Zhiyuan Lin
for principles of bus scheduling.
1.2.7 Task 7: Explore environmental benefits associated with reduced traffic
A key goal of any transport scheme is to maximise the reduction in carbon emitted, as well as assess
other environmental benefits such as Noise and Air Quality. Using the provided SATURN model and
traffic count data, assess the noise and tonnages of emissions, e.g. CO2, NOx and PM2.5 emitted on the
links pre scheme.
Your team will need to make reasonable assumptions on the volume of vehicles expected down each
route. Use this information to assess a post-scheme scenario. Further, Mass Transit is expected to
incentivise modal shift. Using the research from Task 1.2.1 on other Mass Transit systems, estimate a
percentage of modal shift, and modal a scenario in which this would occur.
Use of the DEFRA emission factor toolkit is recommend. These emission factors are typically applied
to the output of traffic modelling tools that simulate traffic demand and movements through road
networks. There are however shortcomings with the ‘average-speed’ emission modelling approach,
and you are expected to comment on their robustness varying with the vehicle mix, level of traffic and
congestion.
The change can then be used to estimate (with assumptions) impacts on the local populations’ health.
It is recommended to consult with Dr James Tate for questions related to Air Quality and Dr Like Jiang
for questions related to Acoustics.
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2. Reporting Procedure
2 Lectures on group presentation and report writing skills will be provided, see Appendix 2.
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3. Resources
A number of resources will be made available to you to assist with this research brief. They can be
found within a series of folders on Minerva and will be available from 06/02/2023. The material is
outlined below:
(1) SATURN folder – containing SATURN outputs for the local road network
(2) Engagement and Consultation folder – contains examples of previous engagement and
consultation strategies, plus other related learning materials
In addition you may want to draw on additional resources which can be found at:
(8) Excel’s Solver or MATLAB available to use for bus scheduling and optimisation.
(9) Some students (on engineering programme) may have used AutoCAD, BIM (building
information modelling) or ARCADY/LINSIG (has junction design capabilities). They could also
search for other openly available software.
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APPENDIX 1 Module Objectives and Learning Outcome:
It is worth highlighting here that one of the key driving forces behind this module is the ITS External
Advisory Board, whose members are drawn from transport industries, consultants, professional
bodies and various levels of government. They expressed a collective wish for students to enhance a
range of personal and professional related skills, such as technical applied transport skills and project
management skills, by placing them in a multi-disciplinary project group (to reflect the range of
transport masters programmes) and asking them to undertake a specific transport project as
suggested by a client (an external organisation or ITS).
The TIP module encapsulates this and builds upon the Shaping Future Transport Systems
(TRAN5015M) module, which outlined to students the contribution of different roles in the
development of transport sector projects, and in doing so has helped equip them with the
fundamental techniques necessary to work in inter-disciplinary teams as part of the TIP module.
On completion of the TIP module, students should have achieved the following key learning outcomes:
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APPENDIX 2 Lecture Plan:
Launch Day (Monday 6th February 2023) Agenda
Other Lectures
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APPENDIX 3 Project/Supervision Timetable:
You are advised to structure your project delivery in the following manner:
Week Staff Activities3
15 Group TIP Launch Day (06/02/2023)
mentors & - Module leader and Leeds City Council to outline the project.
external - Subject experts to introduce themselves.
speakers - External speakers to outline their vision and teach you on
project management and communication skills.
3Please note that whilst we will endeavour to keep to this schedule, changes are sometimes necessary. Any
changes that are required will be announced via the VLE and/or email.
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APPENDIX 4 Module Team:
The module leader is Yue Huang. The group mentors are:
The role of group mentors will be to provide high-level guidance, just as a project director would within
a consultancy or local authority. They will not micro-manage the project, nor will they have a direct role
within the project. You will meet with them on a weekly basis and report your progress, your future plans
and any issues you think need resolving. They will monitor individual contributions and this will be taken
into account when they assess your individual reflective reports. You will have to take on the
responsibility to organise meetings with your group mentor and should retain the flexibility to meet at
different time of the day and different day of the week. There will be an intensive week (w/c 27th February
2023). This is your opportunity to work intensively on your Group Report. During this week, your group
mentor will try to meet with you more frequently, but this depends upon his/her availability.
In addition, you will have access to a number of subject experts from the 3 rd week of the module. The
experts are there to advise and answer specific questions; they are not there to provide direct input into
your project. You will be able to book a slot (10-15 minutes) on a weekly basis (subject to availability)
and so will need to be prepared to ensure you fully utilise the time during these meetings. An elected
group leader or subject lead will book a time slot for the meeting on behalf of their group.
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