Skip to main content

Plans submitted for UK’s Luton Airport Gateway

Knight Architects and Arup have submitted plans for Luton Airport Gateway; a new bridge which will form part of the US$244 million (£200 million) mass passenger transit (MPT) system linking London Luton Airport with Luton Parkway railway station. The MPT will enable fast, easy access from central London to the UK’s fifth biggest and fastest-growing major airport in 30 minutes by providing a seamless transfer time of just five minutes from Luton Airport Parkway to the airport terminal. The system will be a f
March 7, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Knight Architects and 7942 Arup have submitted plans for Luton Airport Gateway; a new bridge which will form part of the US$244 million (£200 million) mass passenger transit (MPT) system linking London Luton Airport with Luton Parkway railway station.

The MPT will enable fast, easy access from central London to the UK’s fifth biggest and fastest-growing major airport in 30 minutes by providing a seamless transfer time of just five minutes from Luton Airport Parkway to the airport terminal. The system will be a fully-automated, two-way, 24-hour capable people-mover based on latest system technology and design innovation running alongside the mainline railway before crossing over Airport Way via the new landmark bridge.

The London Luton Gateway Bridge has been designed as an asymmetric truss structure, spanning 72m across the busy Airport Way. Its top chord traces a parabola which springs tangentially from the deck, before tapering to a slender profile which appears to fade into the distance.

At night the top chord is illuminated with an active-led system. attached directly to the structure and aimed downwards. This allows the lighting system safely operate in its airport environment, without interfering with the functional lighting behind.

Subject to planning permission, work could begin in late 2017, with the system ready for operation by spring 2021.

Related Content

  • January 23, 2015
    Brazil green lights airport concession for Florianópolis
    Brazil's civil aviation minister Eliseu Padilha has given the thumbs up to include the international airport of southern Santa Catarina state capital Florianópolis in the next round of airport concessions, following lobby efforts by mayor César Souza Júnior last year. The project calls for the expansion of Hercilio Luz international airport by expanding the airport's flight line and taxiway as well as building a new parking lot with 1,800 spaces. A second project involves expanding the airport's passenge
  • June 27, 2018
    An innovation lab – not a burden
    Travellers want to be able to book multimodal journeys easily – and to be informed of problems and alternatives as they go. Adam Roark might just be able to help, finds Ben Spencer. The global shift in transportation towards members of the public wanting access to multimodal journeys is rapidly changing how people pay and plan ahead. Buying tickets from a machine and dealing with the frustration of discovering your train is cancelled is a scenario commuters want to avoid through technology’s ability to
  • April 4, 2023
    Sice systems future proof Fehmarnbelt Tunnel
    Picking up the electro-mechanical contract for the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel was a milestone, according to David Calero Monteagudo, head of global ITS and tunnel business for Spanish company Sice. David Arminas finds out more
  • March 14, 2019
    Las Vegas approves Elon Musk tunnel plan
    Hot on the heels of a similar plan in Los Angeles, serial entrepreneur Elon Musk has been given the green light to build underground ‘express-route’ tunnels in Las Vegas, US. The decision by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) will allow Musk’s The Boring Company (TBC) to construct and operate a people mover for the Las Vegas Convention Center. The service, expected to cost $35-$55 million, will operate via a loop of tunnels that could carry up to 11,000 passengers per hour in autono