Skip to main content

Traffic flow information substantiates benefits of new route

The number of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) travelling through Carlisle’s city centre in the north east of England is estimated to have been reduced by more than a third since the US$276.5 million Carlisle Northern Development Route opened in February 2012. Information gathered from a network of 20 permanent and temporary traffic counters dotted around the city showing ‘before and after’ CNDR road usage is starting to build a more meaningful picture of the benefits the new road has brought to Carlisle.
August 20, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The number of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) travelling through Carlisle’s city centre in the north east of England is estimated to have been reduced by more than a third since the US$276.5 million Carlisle Northern Development Route opened in February 2012.

Information gathered from a network of 20 permanent and temporary traffic counters dotted around the city showing ‘before and after’ CNDR road usage is starting to build a more meaningful picture of the benefits the new road has brought to Carlisle.

There has been a marked reduction in both cars and HGVs along the main north to south arterial route through the city – the A7 and A595 – as an average of more than 10,000 vehicles a day use the new 8.25km/5.13-mile road.

Carlisle’s busiest stretch of road, the A595 at Castle Way, has shown a 16 per cent reduction in all vehicles from 38,083 a day before the opening of CNDR to 32,050 afterwards (with a 41 per cent reduction in HGVs from 6,860 to 4,060). Other city centre hotspots have shown similar reductions, with the A7 at Stanwix Bank showing a 16 per cent reduction in all vehicles and a 32 per cent reduction in HGVs.

CNDR has quickly become a key route to travel between the south west of the city and the industrial areas to the north - a big factor for employers looking to develop good communications channels in areas ripe for commercial development.

As expected, there are higher levels of traffic on certain radial routes that have direct links to the CNDR. The county council has already set aside additional capital funding to mitigate against this effect and also improve links to CNDR for pedestrians and cyclists along these radial routes.

Related Content

  • Travel data critical to traffic management, traveller information
    January 31, 2012
    The ability to bundle together travel data from several discrete sources and fuse it to give a more comprehensive overview of events to stakeholders is the key aim of Viajeo, which is conducting trials in several cities around the world. Here, Ertico's Yanying Li writes about the project in more detail
  • Promoting cycling is the solution to congestion and pollution
    August 20, 2015
    Cycling offers health, air quality and road space/parking benefits, promoting governments and the EU to look at tax and technology initiatives. David Crawford reports. One way to improve urban air quality is to make green alternatives to car use financially attractive. Incentivising employees to switch their travel-to-work mode to using their own bikes could increase cycling’s modal share of commuting travel by 50%, a recent French research project suggests. The country’s government already subsidises pu
  • VMT rising – but still well below normal, says StreetLight Data
    May 22, 2020
    Many American drivers remain at home in lead-up to Memorial Day weekend
  • VRU safety report urges enforcement
    March 18, 2020
    Enforcement must be at the heart of a drive to reduce vulnerable road user deaths and injuries, says the latest report from the European Transport Safety Council. Its facts and figures give authorities the justification to invest more in camera technology and other ITS solutions