Traffic and transport

Context

Chapter 18 of Volume 2 of the PEIR presents the preliminary assessment of environmental effects from traffic and transport. Vehicular access to airport and its car parks is currently along Airport Way and along Percival Way/President Way. National Cycle Route (NCR) 6 runs along the River Lea Valley to the south west of the Main Application Site; the route provides a continuous link between London and the Lake District. There are also several Public Rights of Way located within the Main Application Site.

Separately to the Proposed Development, a package of highway improvement schemes has been identified in the East Luton Study (on behalf of Luton Borough Council) to address traffic pressures arising from planned growth in housing and employment identified in the Luton Local Plan and growth in the neighbouring districts. As agreed with Luton Borough Council, these schemes have been assumed to be completed by 2027 in the PEIR. Furthermore, in discussion with National Highways, it is expected that improvements to M1 capacity between Junctions 9 and 10 would be made (e.g. in the form of a hard shoulder running) to address capacity issues arising from planned growth.

The airport Public Transport Hub, located adjacent to the existing terminal, caters for a wide variety of services to support airport operations with 17 bus/coach stands allocated to specific services. Local buses operated by Arriva and Centrebus connect the existing airport with Luton town centre, Stevenage and Dunstable. Conventional coach services are also operated by National Express, Stagecoach and Greenline Coaches, connecting the airport with London and other London airports, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Birmingham, Manchester and other cities and towns across the UK.

Unlike other London airports, London Luton Airport is not yet served directly by a rail line. The nearest station is Luton Airport Parkway railway station from which a shuttle bus to the airport is currently operated. The rail service at Luton Airport Parkway station has improved recently with the introduction of the East Midlands Rail Connect service, in addition to the Thameslink services. This service runs between Corby and St Pancras International stations with a 30 minute frequency and is operated by electric multiple unit trains. Luton DART, connecting Luton Airport Parkway and Terminal 1, is scheduled to open in 2022.

Mitigation measures

A range of mitigation measures relating to traffic and transport are proposed. These include:

Construction

• an Outline Construction Traffic Management Plan has been prepared (refer to Appendix 18.3 in Volume 3 of the PEIR) which sets out measures that would be undertaken by the contractors to minimise the impact of construction traffic on the highway network; and
• a Construction Workers Travel Plan will be produced to support the application for development consent, which will set out measures to encourage responsible transport choices by construction workers.

Operation

• a Framework Travel Plan (for airport employees) will be produced to support the application for development consent, which will set out targets for travel by non-car modes and describe the measures to achieve set targets;
• a bus/coach strategy will be developed and discussed with bus and coach operators, aimed at increasing the frequency of service, introducing new routes, integrated ticketing, ticket purchasing facilities and better vehicles;
• the Luton DART system will be extended to serve the new terminal; and
• various Highway Intervention works are included in the Proposed Development to reduce the adverse impact of the additional traffic on local road users.

Likely significant effects

Construction

During construction, the assessment considered the potential impacts on road and public transport users, as a result of any additional traffic generated by the construction works. Over the construction period, the level of construction traffic would vary considerably. An estimated 231 vehicles are predicted to visit the Main Application Site on a daily basis during the busiest quarter of the construction period (in Quarter 2, 2036). An estimated 66% of this traffic would be heavy goods vehicles. It is proposed that construction traffic would mostly be routed to the Main Application Site via President Way, Airport Access Road (once constructed), the A1081 and M1. With mitigation in place, as set out in the Outline Construction Traffic Management Plan, the effects of construction traffic on these routes are not likely to be significant.

Operation

During operation, the preliminary assessment considered the potential impacts of the forecast operational traffic flows. Modelling of future traffic flows demonstrated that even without the Proposed Development, traffic within the surrounding area is forecast to increase in the future, which could lead to greater congestion, causing delays and a reduction in average journey speeds.

During operation, the majority of additional traffic is forecast to be focussed on the A1081 between the airport and M1 Junction 10, and then on the M1 itself to the north and south of Luton. In addition to this, there are forecast to be changes to traffic on local routes to the north, south and east of the airport with the Proposed Development in operation. Only between 5% and 6% of air passengers either arrive at or leave the airport in the morning (08:00 to 09:00) and evening (17:00 to 18:00) peak hours due to the airport’s flight schedule. Hence, the majority of the traffic associated with the operation of the airport does not coincide with peak traffic during the day. With mitigation in place, the changes in traffic flows were not determined likely to result in significant effects.

A significant beneficial effect on the users of Eaton Green Road/Frank Lester Way was also identified due to a reduced risk of road traffic collisions and improved road safety.

Completing the assessment

Following the receipt of personal injury collision data for M1, further assessment of effects on highway safety will be undertaken. Additional assessment of effects on rail passengers will also be completed, specifically to consider sections of the route south of Luton Airport Parkway station. Agreed monitoring that will form part of the Framework Travel Plan will be incorporated into the ES.

Documents

PEIR Chapter 18 : Click Here

Figures

18.1 Local Transport Network : Click Here
18.2 Strategic Transport Network : Click Here
18.3 Simulation Network : Click Here

Appendices

18.1 Traffic and Transportation Methodology : Click Here
18.2 Selected Link Flow Data : Click Here
18.3 Draft Outline Construction Traffic Management Plan : Click Here