HS2 Traffic Management Planning
To ensure safe working conditions and efficient site access, HS2’s main works contractors must plan and manage the impact of construction traffic on local communities and environment, and the road network.
This can include:
- Traffic Management Plans requiring road closures and temporary reductions in the road capacity available for other traffic to enable safe working.
- Transport Management Plans requiring collaboration with the workforce and supply chain to adapt site access times and approach routes in order to meet, and demonstrate compliance with, Environmental Minimum Requirements (EMR) specified in the Environmental Statement.
Traditionally, these plans are developed using conventional analytical methods, often slow, expensive, and prone to error. Immense offered an innovative, digital-first alternative to reduce time and resources deployed – addressing the current challenges contractors, and HS2 overall, face during the planning and execution of construction works.
At a glance
- £1,000,000 in direct savings from process improvements related to Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders (TTROs).
- Cost reduction by avoiding additional rounds of Highway Authority permit review queries that lead to commissioning of modelling or analysis, additional staff time, survey costs and potential delays.
- Cost reduction related to preparing assessments for EMR compliance (junction capacity analyses, LF spreadsheet).
- Reduce risks to onsite workforce delays through improved delivery planning
- Impact mitigation of HGV construction movements on the traffic network
The background
As part of HS2’s Innovation Accelerator Cohort 5, Immense joined forces with contractors Align JV and EKFB, helping to drive “Agility and Assurance” in programme delivery.
One of HS2’s key requirements was to demonstrate responsible operation in line with their legal agreements, evaluating construction traffic against the Environmental Minimum Requirements (EMR) and providing up to date traffic figures and severance impacts. Innovative methods were required in order to provide up-to-date assessments in the most efficient way to meet programme delivery timelines.
The mission
HS2 must operate responsibly under legal agreements and environmental commitments. Demonstrating compliance with EMR – across access routes, junctions, traffic volumes, and timing – demands robust, real-time assessment tools.
Immense replaced conventional analytical methods that are error-prone, expensive and resource-intensive, with agile, digital simulation.
The outcome: greater insight, faster approvals, and better outcomes.
The solution
The Immense Platform provides on-demand assessment and technical assurance for impacts of planned works activities affecting the wider highway network. It also supports the design and implementation of effective mitigations by analysing a full 24hr “day in the life of” the network. The agent-based nature of the simulation underpinning the platform means users can quantify the impacts, including carbon emissions and preferred diversion routes:
- Quickly assess the impacts of alternative traffic management plans to gain approvals from the relevant Highway Authorities in a timely and informed manner
- Download on-demand assessment and technical assurance for impacts of planned works activities affecting the wider highway network
- Evaluate workforce travel movements and assess capacity constraints at key sites
- Evaluate EMR compliance for key junctions and routes
- Improve stakeholder consultation through the automatic generation of Impact Assessment reports and user-friendly applications
By combining agent-based modelling, AWS cloud infrastructure, and intuitive interfaces, the platform provides a holistic picture of various impacts on the transport network. It delivers fast, evidence-based predictions, running scenarios in hours, not days/weeks to enable better planning.
The results
During the Accelerator programme, Immense demonstrated:
- a reduction in time and deployed resources
- integration of workforce travel plans into EMR assessments for key sites.
- the transferability of methods to manage impacts and stakeholder engagement for joint work site activities between AlignJV and EKFB in Area Central.
- a scalable, transferable approach to traffic planning and stakeholder engagement.
The result: significant cost savings, improved planning agility, and reduced project risks.
The future
Immense is ready to support HS2 and other major infrastructure programmes with:
- fast, flexible, and clear forecasting of the impacts of roadworks – enabling confident decision-making and better outcomes for all stakeholders.
- coverage of up-to-date baseline data and models across wider areas of interest
- effective reporting and user-friendly applications
The ability to efficiently test multiple scenarios enables HS2 to demonstrate that alternatives have been considered and may also provide insights to lower-impact ways of working.
The work going on at Immense is incredibly exciting, they really are bringing traffic modelling into the modern age. Being able to utilise the Immense platform and its up-to-date data has been transformative for us and has the potential to rewrite how we use modelling to support decision-making particularly in a dynamic traffic management environment.
Aaron Heer – Traffic Manager – Area Central – HS2