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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Low-costs solutions to improve pedestrian safety
    May 8, 2015
    David Crawford welcomes low-cost safety initiatives for pedestrians in America. Some 10 people die each week in accidents on crosswalks in the US, that’s more than 10% of all pedestrian fatalities in road traffic incidents - the number of which is running at a five-year high. Ensuring crosswalks are safe is key in supporting the growing enthusiasm for walking as a travel mode. In the last decade of the 20th century, numbers walking to work in the US fell by 26%; while, as recently as 2012, Americans were e
  • New York's congestion charging scheme is finally underway
    January 6, 2025
    First US city to introduce such a scheme: drivers now pay $9 per day
  • Keeping over-height and overheating vehicles out of tunnels
    October 7, 2013
    A review of pre-warning solutions for problematic commercial vehicles approaching tunnels
  • Fara keeps data delivery simple
    January 25, 2018
    Simplifying the delivery of data and information gathered by traffic management, ticketing and other systems can improve travel efficiency and the traveller’s experience. Having quantified and analysed the previously unmonitored movement of road vehicles, trains, metros, cyclists and pedestrians, the ITS sector is a prime example of the digital world. Patterns discerned from those previously random happenings enable authorities to design more efficient transport systems, allow transport operators to run