How Cadence 360 helped Liverpool Combined Authority understand active travel behaviour

Overview

City Science is supporting Mott MacDonald to provide the Liverpool Combined Authority with an update to the Liverpool City Regional Transport Model. Our role is to develop a walking & cycling module for the Transport Model for which we are utilising geospatial insights from data stored within Cadence 360.

Scope

As part of the refresh of the Liverpool City Regional Transport Model, City Science is using geospatial data and analysis to develop a walking & cycling module for the model. Using detailed network and traffic flow data from within Cadence 360, City Science is developing a walking & cycling model that will predict the behavioural response of pedestrians and cyclists to changes to the network or additions of new schemes.

The model works by combining detailed data on cycling networks with other geospatial data (including accident statistics, traffic flows and land-use etc.) to define a “Cycling Level of Stress” which is then used within assignment routing algorithms to determine which routes cyclists are likely to take. This model is then calibrated to observed cycling movements.

Alongside the development of the Level of Stress the team consolidated relevant data that feed the analytical approach and presented these in a digital format using Cadence 360.

Visualisation of the Cycling Level of Stress Index for Cycling Links across the Liverpool Region
Green Space / Land Use data used to inform the Level of Stress analysis and Cycling Model

Outcomes

The outcome of the project is a walking & cycling model that responds to changes in the input network and predicts the demand for walking & cycling routes based on their relative attractiveness. The project also includes a consolidated evidence base that can be visualised alongside the intermediate modelling steps to support communication and validation of the model performance.