Research and analysis

Evaluating the impact of active travel investment

Research and analysis to assess the impact of active travel investment in England and improve the effectiveness of active travel economic appraisal.

• From: Active Travel England
• Published: 12 February 2026

Applies to England

Documents

Active travel evidence assessment: the impacts of interventions to enable adult cycling

PDF, 375 KB, 55 pages

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Active travel evidence assessment: impacts of interventions to enable walking and wheeling

PDF, 361 KB, 54 pages

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Active travel evidence assessment: impacts of early consideration of active travel through planning and design

PDF, 381 KB, 54 pages

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Active travel evidence assessment: impacts of active school travel

PDF, 498 KB, 82 pages

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Active travel evidence assessment: economic impacts of active travel

PDF, 337 KB, 49 pages

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Active travel evidence assessment: health and wellbeing impacts of active travel

PDF, 347 KB, 53 pages

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Active travel evidence assessment: impact of active travel on journey times, congestion and resilience

PDF, 368 KB, 51 pages

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Active travel evidence review: safety, journey quality and urban realm impacts in active travel appraisal

PDF, 954 KB, 78 pages

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Details

Seven reports assess published international evidence of the impact of active travel interventions, with 4 focusing on the impact of:

• enabling adult cycling
• enabling walking and wheeling
• early consideration of active travel in planning and design
• active school travel

Three reports focus on the types of impact from any active travel intervention:

• economic impacts
• health and well-being impacts
• impacts on journey times, congestion and resilience 

The evidence review focuses on the safety, journey quality and place quality/urban realm impacts of active travel infrastructure schemes and applied valuation methods. It aims to understand how appraisal guidance might be updated and areas for further research that might be required.

The results will inform Active Travel England’s approach to evaluating investment in active travel.

Sheffield Hallam University, NatCen Social Research, and Mosodi Ltd were commissioned by the Department for Transport and Active Travel England to carry out the evidence assessments.

Frontier Economics and Systra were commissioned to carry out the evidence review.

Published 12 February 2026