WCHAR
Walking, cycling and horse-riding assessment and review (DMRB GG142, originally Non-Motorised User Audit HD 42/17).
PAF will provide suitably trained and experienced engineers to work alongside the scheme design team leader as Lead Assessor and conduct the review at concept design stage or failing that at the end of the preliminary design stage. The review will include:
- Assessment of walking, cycling and horse-riding policies and strategies;
- Collision data;
- Multi-modal transport service and interchange information;
- Key trip generators and local amenities;
- Site visits;
- Liaison with key stakeholders;
- Existing walking, cycling and horse-riding facilities;
- Walking, cycling and horse-riding survey data for a large highway schemes;
- Liaison with local user groups and wider public for a large highway scheme.
Accessibility/Mobility Audit
These audits are very closely related and quite often are presented as the same thing. An accessibility audit is an essential part of the design process to ensure that any accessibility issues such as hazards and obstructions have been identified. UK Highway Authorities are required by the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005 to ensure equality and that those with disabilities or mobility problems can benefit from a fully inclusive built environment.
PAF conduct accessibility / mobility audits to establish just how this has been achieved in terms of access and ease of use by a wide range of potential users, including people with disabilities including:
- visually-impaired pedestrians
- hearing-impaired pedestrians
- wheelchair users
- mobility-impaired people
It focuses on barriers and obstacles that these pedestrians could face whilst negotiating the road layout.
PAF have conducted a significant number of these audits on the Highways England Area10 contract in Greater Manchester and Merseyside.
Cycle Audit/Review
Cycle Audits in the UK are described in the Department for Transport document Transport Advisory Leaflet 7/98A. It defines a cycle audit as a systematic process, applied to planned changes to the transport network, which is designed to ensure that opportunities to encourage cycling are considered comprehensively and that cycling considerations are not inadvertently made worse.
The main aim is to ensure that a good cycling infrastructure is achieved wherever possible. In general terms, this is done by considering five headings –
- Coherence
- Directness
- Attractiveness
- Safety
- Comfort
Cycle Review is defined as a systematic process applied to existing transport networks, which is designed to identify their positive and negative attributes for cycling and to assess ways in which those networks could be changed in order to encourage cycling.
PAF will use the review as a tool to examine the existing transport infrastructure for ease of use by cyclists. Our findings and observations will help to draw up Local Cycling Strategies and to integrate cycling interests into transport plans.
