Traffic Safety, Thames River, London

Requirements

The River Thames was a historically critical link for London as a commercial port. Increasingly the focus has been on tourist craft , raising increasing concern over the level and nature of vessels that could be safely accommodated on the Thames. 

This was particularly due to the high tidal range that sees the bridge access become more significantly constrained as the tide falls. 

Solutions

We were appointed to undertake a study on the River Thames's vessel traffic in Central London. This included:

• Mapping of river traffic;
• Stakeholder engagement on key river risk issues;
• Forecast of future impact of commercial developments and increased traffic - particularly tourist vessels associated with 2012 Olympics and commuter ferry activity;
• Identification of traffic capacity, particularly at bridge spans.

Benefits

• Sustainability - The work was extended to assess spoil removal for the Thames Tideway tunnel, which needed to tackle the 39 million tonnes of sewage discharged to river in an average year. One of the project's objectives required making best use of Thames to support construction and transport of excavated material by barge – a task supported by the capacity modelling.
• Innovation - An open architecture event simulation model was prepared for use by the client to assist in their review of options and capacity.
• Added Value - The ability of the model to present graphical output clearly highlighting capacity constraints has assisted the multi-stakeholder engagement required.