The design of highways, roads, and streets requires a delicate balance between the physical demands of a project, the realities of constraints faced by owners and operators, and the need for design to recognise the setting of the asset in the environment. From feasibility studies to planning, design, procurement, construction supervision, and post-construction assessments, engineering expertise is required to ensure optimal efficiency and safety, while minimising costs and environmental impacts. WSP experts work on bringing these benefits to towns and cities every day. In China, we delivered the Urban Transport Sustainable Development Strategic Plan for the city of Changzhi, on behalf of the World Bank Global Environmental Facility, to promote public transit development, mitigate environmental traffic impacts, and improve mobility in the city. WSP has designed highway, road, and street projects around the world. Our civil engineering teams apply innovative designs to the delivery of long-term sustainable solutions for construction of new roads and streets in urban and rural environments, as well as widening and improvement of existing roads and highways. The scope of our expertise extends to conceptual studies, preliminary engineering, and detailed design of rural and urban highways, arterial streets, and neighbourhood streets.
In Texas, United States, WSP served as lead designer on the award-winning Dallas-Fort Worth Connector. The comprehensive design-build project involved a development agreement to develop, design, and build 13.5 km of the DFW Connector, including major interchanges at SH 121 and International Parkway. At its widest point, the DFW Connector has 24 lanes, including 14 main lanes, 6 frontage road lanes, and 4 managed toll lanes with dynamic pricing to keep traffic moving fluidly.
WSP’s cost-effective designs help clients to improve safety, ease congestion, extend street and highway life, and improve mobility. We deliver design solutions using state-of- the-art design software, including AutoCAD, Civil 3D, InRoads, MX, GeoPak, MicroStation, AutoTurn, and SignCAD.
WSP's highway, road and street design services include:
- Feasibility Studies
- Conceptual and Detailed Urban Street Design
- Public Consultation and Route Planning
- Highway and Junction/Intersection Design
- Safety Audits
- Supervision and Inspection
WSP’s expertise in developing intelligent transport and travel information systems also plays an important role in our design process through the optimisation of global mobility and network traffic management. Our highway, road and street design services are further complemented by the global experience of our bridge engineering teams, whose inspection and analysis services include load capacity evaluation & analysis, asset management, emergency repair design, and rehabilitation. WSP’s pavement engineers also contribute their expertise to the design process through the development and implementation of pavement innovations, such as single night bay replacements, deep asphalt inlays, and fine milling on concrete pavements.
Other WSP highway, road and street design services include:
On behalf of Highways England, as part of the A1 Coal House to Metro Centre Scheme in the United Kingdom, WSP provided professional design services and site support during the tender and delivery stages of this Design and Build contract. The project involved improving the current provision from dual 2-lane all-purpose to dual 3-lane all-purpose carriageway over a 6.4 km length of the A1 in Northeast England. Sections of single lane slip roads were also upgraded, and new parallel link roads were provided within the centre section to provide a dedicated route for vehicles travelling between adjacent junctions, all to reduce congestion and improve journey time reliability and road safety. All works were being confined to be undertaken within the land owned by Highways England. This was achieved by reducing the widths of running lanes, verges, and the central reserve, and through provision of a variety of earth retaining solutions.
