The management of traffic pressures in an historic city.

This paper describes the use of a SATURN Simulation model to help develop a comprehensive transport strategy in the environmentally sensitive City of York. York City Council is developing a comprehensive strategy to cope with the visitor pressure on the City. A major component of this strategy is the commissioning of The MVA Consultancy to undertake a transportation study to manage this pressure. The core of the study is the use of the simulation model SATURN which will enable the City Council to test a range of policies to improve travelling conditions in the City. The quality of the City's historic fabric imposes major constraints on the ability to adapt the highway network to cope with high volumes of pedestrians, cyclists and visitor traffic. The paper describes the positive priority being given to or planned for pedestrians, cyclists and Park and Ride users which is intended to lessen the impact of car traffic on the City centre. The policy for car parking complements this approach. A further critical means for handling traffic in an environmentally sensitive City will be more effective signing and the provision of Urban Traffic Control. The study will provide a significant opportunity to develop an evaluation methodology which acknowledges the prime importance of environmental criteria. It will also establish a set of tools to derive a transport strategy which is able to contain the impact of future traffic growth and promote the use of alternative modes.