This paper outlines the methodology for preparing a transport strategy for the town of Ashford in Kent, which is due to nearly double in size over the next twenty years or so. Kent County Council were keen to use this opportunity to promote a better lifestyle for the Ashford of the future - a lifestyle with greater opportunity for all, an inclusive society, with sustainable mobility. The project involved developing a land use and transport model so as to forecast the effect of the proposed land uses on the transport system and to help in the redesign of the land uses and transport system so that they provided the optimum solution for the Ashford of the future. The project had to be completed in a very short time so as to meet the timescale for implementation and allow sufficient time for the statutory and consultation processes which effectively meant that the model had to be built in two months and the forecasting completed in another two months. This led to the use of rapid model development techniques which were instrumental in delivering the project results on time and to budget. This paper outlines how the strategy was prepared using the equilibrium supply-demand model in such a short timescale. (Author/publisher).
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