The ACT Government has recently committed to opening a new high school in East Gungahlin, to serve the rapidly growing population of the Northern Suburbs.
In particular, the school will satisfy the demand of the future residents of a soon-to-be developed nearby suburb: Kenny.
Our role was ensuring that the community can safely access the school. Other critical elements in the design of the school that we identified were around minimising its impacts to light-rail services and the arterial road network.
The Challenge
The key challenge of this project involved the collection of ‘atypical’ existing conditions traffic data due to COVID-19 restrictions. In order to ensure the current traffic data represented typical conditions, we analysed a range of historical (pre-COVID-19) datasets to identify the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions on traffic patterns. Once we analysed the impacts, we adjusted the impacted datasets back to typical conditions.
Given the complex nature of traffic patterns associated with the proposed school and the future Kenny suburb, Quantum Traffic undertook Microsimulation Traffic Modelling to analyse the performance of the road network across a broad area around the proposed school site.
The study area included over 8km of arterial roads and 18 intersections, four of which provide dynamic priority to light rail services.
In addition to an existing conditions scenario to demonstrate the accuracy of the model, a range of future scenarios, in the 2023 and 2031 future analysis years, were developed to investigate the impacts of the proposed high school.
The Result
This modelling, along with active travel, parking and public transport assessments, formed the basis of a Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) for the proposed high school.
The TIA identified the likely impacts proposed high school on the transport networks and provided recommendations to mitigate them. With this information, the ACT Government can now progress with the development of this important amenity.
To find out more about how traffic modelling can help you get on with your project, get in contact with us.
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