In the RIBA’s recent report, Joining the dots: a new approach to tackling the UK’s infrastructure challenges, the Institute found that transport infrastructure exacerbates the housing crisis. The report calls for a new-decision making framework for infrastructure investment and exposes some of the ways in which the current system has failed to deliver for the public.
One example of this is the Cambridge Guided Busway. The Busway opened in 2011 and connects Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives in Cambridgeshire. It is the longest guided busway in the world.
In many ways, the project is an exemplary demonstration of the wider public goals that can be delivered upon through well-considered infrastructure delivery. Alongside accommodating 2.5 million trips a year, it has unlocked an array of additional benefits, supporting the long-term growth of Cambridge. For instance, the busway has enabled the growth of new satellite settlements on the outskirts of Cambridge to grow more sustainably and support greater uptake of public transport and active transport with dedicated bus stops.
Northstowe is a new town development which aims to provide up to 10,000 new homes, on the former RAF Oakington airfield and barracks over a growth period of up to 25 years.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the scheme, however, is the story behind its complementary cycle path. Alongside the new busway there were always plans for a maintenance road to run alongside the full length of the track. But it was only after much campaigning by local cycling groups that this was turned into a public bridleway and dedicated cycling route, which runs almost the length of the entire busway. Part of the cost was funded by the Busway but there was additional funding from the local authority and local cycling charities.
A number of studies have now found that improvements to cycle infrastructure around the Guided Busway accounted for both the increased uptake of public transport and cycle usage.
- One, which looked at people who lived within 30km of the city centre and travelled to workplaces in Cambridge along the busway route, found that exposure to the busway was positively associated with an increase in cycling. 85% of the reported increase in cycle use was attributed to use of the cycle path only.
- The results also show that people living closer to the busway were more likely to increase the time they spent cycling on the commute than those living further away.
The Cambridge Guided Busway illustrates how local stakeholders, who are embedded in the urban environment in question, can make substantial contributions to ensuring the most is made of new infrastructure schemes. Without local civil society groups raising the benefits of a cycle path it is unlikely that would have gone ahead.
Campaigning and political pressure can be used to unlock these benefits. But a far more productive approach would ensure that they are more involved in the actual process of decision making about new infrastructure schemes in the first place. With more relatable local information, project teams will be able to explain and explore the benefits of a proposal as well as setting out the impacts of a scheme not progressing.
Recommendation
Ensure local knowledge is integrated into option consideration and analysis
Do this by creating a more rigorous process for assessing the impacts of new infrastructure projects, aligning local and national decision making on infrastructure and housing through a national spatial strategy.
