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We have expertise across the roads and streets sector, from innovative active travel schemes to major road developments.

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We help our road agency clients to develop and define their future strategy, to support the planning and funding of the road networks they operate. Our strategy, planning and financial advice is underpinned by our technical strengths and deep understanding of how physical road assets and networks perform to deliver value to communities. 

We work from the earliest phases of a project through to the design and construction phase, as well as later on in the maintenance and operations phase, where asset owners are looking to optimise, improve user experience and re-invest.

Strategic advice

We help our clients to develop strategies which navigate changing contexts, meet regulatory requirements and have sustainability at their core.

Strategic advice

We help our clients to develop strategies which navigate changing contexts, meet regulatory requirements and have sustainability at their core.

Major Roads Project Victoria - preparing a road for construction
Claire Quinlan, Principal at Arup, shares this story on how we developed a social procurement framework for Victoria’s biggest road investment as part of our role to provide technical services to Major Roads Project Victoria (MRPV).

We have decades-long relationships with clients who trust us to develop strategies which support their vision and evolve with them as organisations.

Strategy development and implementation

Whether about the future development of the road network, or about specific objectives like net zero carbon roads or the adoption of new infrastructure – such as to support EVs or hydrogen vehicles – we develop strategies that are pragmatic and cost-effective. We also develop implementation roadmaps to support the roll out of new strategies, embedding them into an organisation. Along with PA and Oxera, we supported UK agency National Highways produce a vision to take it to 2050. The work included developing a vision focused on key strategic themes, providing preliminary levels of ambition and specifying potential work packages.

Specialist technical advice

Our advisory teams provide technical advice to road and transport clients on a range of operational and organisational challenges, underpinned by our deep technical domain knowledge.

 

We provided Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV), the body responsible for planning and delivering the biggest road investment in the Australian state’s history, technical advice spanning project and programme management, transport engineering, traffic and transport planning, planning and environmental consulting and communications and stakeholder management. As part of the work, we pioneered a new social procurement approach, connecting with key partners to help define the approach and mapping services to suppliers across three areas: people, services and goods.

 

Stakeholder engagement

 

We undertake comprehensive stakeholder engagement programmes to ensure strategies meet the requirements of a range of road users and bodies with an interest in how the network performs.

Planning

Our transport planners, modellers, analysts and economists support organisations in planning for and responding to the changing needs and expectations from regulators, customers and government.​

Planning

Strategic level planning activities remain critical for road organisations to ensure that directional strategies are based on a sound evidence base.​

The multimodal transport network in Birmingham representing both major routes and smaller, urban roads.

In just six weeks, we developed the foundations of an Agent Based Model (ABM) for Birmingham, which simulated individual behaviours and travel changes when regular behaviours were disrupted by restrictions such as social distancing.

Our global team of transport planners, modellers, analysts and economists support organisations in planning for and responding to the changing needs and expectations from regulators, customers and government.​

Services include initiatives such as horizon scanning, feasibility studies, technical assessment and response to external pressures and requests, for example governmental organisation restructuring of funding and asset ownership. 

We also help test policies and proposals, looking at how different packages of interventions might lead to major change in travel behaviour. We are able to simulate the complex interactions that arise in everyone’s day accurately and rapidly through our agent based modelling capability.

For example, Arup planning consultants are helping the City of San Jose craft an Access and Mobility Plan which includes the framework, processes, tools and strategies needed to make the city’s vision of increasing walking, biking and public transit use while reducing dependency on private cars from 76% to 40% a reality.

Find out more about our work in creating an agent-based model for Birmingham.

Funding and procurement

Roads are often major investments and clients come to Arup for our ability to judge financial risks, environmental impacts and overall viability.

Funding and procurement

Roads are often major investments and clients come to Arup for our ability to judge financial risks, environmental impacts and overall viability.

Ankara to Nigde motorway

The Ankara to Niğde Motorway (ANO project) is a missing section of the Trans-European Motorways (TEM) route network in Türkiye. Arup was appointed by ERG as Lenders Technical Advisor (LTA) during the financing and construction phases of the project.

Our breadth of expertise in procurement and financing makes us the perfect partner for public or private organisations planning new road or upgrade schemes or programmes.

Tender support and business case development

We support PPP contractors and developers with a range of design, operation and lifecycle advisory services. Services include performance review of existing assets, reviewing tender documentation, contract document review, operation and maintenance strategy, plan and costs including advice around tolling, traffic usage, ITS, operation planning and preliminary cost estimates. 

Future investment decisions and transaction advice

Our investor advisory services span the entire project lifecycle, including corporate finance and due diligence. We integrate traffic forecasting, commercial and operational strategy and infrastructure appraisal and asset management to deliver a unified due diligence report and operational model. We act as Lenders’ Technical Advisor (LTA) on some of the most complex and busy roads in the world, including for the M25 around London which carries around 15% of all UK motorway traffic.

Operational readiness

We help our clients transition successfully from construction to operation. Services include overall planning and assurance, procurement of outsourced services, O&M documentation and plans, commissioning of technology such as tolling and ITS and providing trials and dry runs ahead of start of operations.

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