RoadWatch: Roundup

April 2019

Welcome to Austroads RoadWatch: Roundup for April. This is our monthly newsletter which includes links to our latest reports, webinars and Guide updates.

Austroads Board Meeting Communique

The Austroads Board met on 4 April 2019 in Melbourne, Victoria and was chaired by Neil Scales, Director General, Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads.

The meeting Communiqué includes an update on the progress of the Board's strategic projects and an overview of the research work program including projects approved in principle for 2019-2020.

Download the Communiqué

New Executive General Manager for TCA

Transport Certification Australia (TCA) was pleased to announce the appointment of Stuart Ballingall as its new
Executive General Manager (EGM), effective 6 May 2019.

Mr Ballingall has over 20 years’ experience in the automotive and transport sectors, including executive
leadership roles at VicRoads, Austroads and, most recently, Transport for Victoria where he will be leaving
his role as director of future vehicles and transport innovation to take up his new EGM role at TCA.

TCA was acquired in January 2019 by Austroads Ltd, the peak organisation of Australasian road transport and traffic agencies, led by Chief Executive, Nick Koukoulas.

Speaking about the new appointment Mr Koukoulas said, “In a period of national and international transport reform happening now and into the future, we need someone of Stuart's proven experience in delivering complex technical programs, particularly in areas of transport technologies, information systems, policy and regulatory reform.”

Austroads' Presentation at UOW

Recently, our Connected and Automated Vehicles Program Manager; John Wall visited the students at the University of Wollongong (UOW) to discuss if the promised benefits of connected and automated vehicles that were reported in the media in 2015 have eventuated.

In his lecture John started by going back to 2015 and looking at some of the media articles of the time that predicted a 90% reduction in the road toll through the use of automated vehicles and the prediction by one European manufacturer that “driverless” vehicles could be on the road by 2020.

A Comparison of Approaches by Bridge Engineers
and the PBS Scheme

Austroads has released a publication that describes the discrepancy between the tiers of bridge assessment documented in the Heavy Vehicle National Law’s Performance Based Standards (PBS) scheme and the tiers of assessment Austroads bridge engineers adopt when conducting assessments to safely maximise access to road bridges and culverts.

From a structural engineering viewpoint, the bridge formulae in the Axle Spacing Mass Schedules in the Heavy Vehicle National Law do not apply to the entire bridge inventory. The formulae is missing critical maximum validity limits on span ranges and masses, and ignores structural condition. Additionally, the formulae does not consider the advances in bridge strength subsequent to the MS18 design load adopted between 1953-1976.

Download the publication

Austroads Test Methods and Specifications

Austroads has released a comprehensive hyperlinked list of the Austroads Test Methods and Specifications.

The Asset Management Test Methods and Specifications relate to equipment.

The Pavement Test Methods primarily relate to the testing of materials and are published in a numerical series that relates to their subject matter:

Aggregate Test Methods (Series 001-099)
Binders Test Methods (Series 100-199)
Bituminous Mixes Test Methods (Series 200-299)
Pavement Investigation Test Methods (Series 400-499)
Equipment Test Methods (Series 500-599)
Cemented Materials Test Methods (Series 600-699)

The linked list provides a handy reference to them all.

Download the linked list

Register now for Lean Construction webinar

Lean Construction: Responding to the Productivity Challenge Faced by the Construction Industry

Thursday 16 May 2019, 1pm AEST

This webinar will give you an overview of the Lean approach to construction project delivery.

Lean/Integrated Project Delivery is a response to customer and supply chain dissatisfaction with the results in the design and construction industry. Lean methods seek to develop and manage a project through relationships, shared knowledge and common goals. Traditional silos of knowledge, work and effort are broken down and reorganised to achieve better overall project outcomes rather than to benefit individual participants. The results are significant improvements in schedule with dramatically reduced waste, particularly on complex and/ or uncertain projects and programs of work.

In this webinar, you’ll learn about

lean principles, practices and techniques
key differences of traditional and lean construction
case studies demonstrating the outcomes that can be achieved
the current state of lean construction in Australia.

Join in a live Q&A with our presenter to have your questions answered.

Presented by Christina Levinson

Christina is a Managing Partner at the Lean Construction Advisory Group (LCAG) and has over fifteen years’ experience as a consultant in the field of LEAN and Organisational Development as a successful advisor, trainer, and facilitator. Since 2008 this experience has also included extensive collaborative contracting facilitation, coaching and advice.

Christina is also the Chair of the Queensland Chapter of the Lean Construction Institute Australasia (LCIA) and holds a position on the National Board.

No charge but registration is essential.

Register now

Upcoming Austroads webinars

Updated Guidance for the Design of New Pavements for Road Tunnels 30 April 2019, 1pm AEST

Lean Construction: Responding to the Productivity Challenge Faced by the Construction Industry 16 May 2019, 1pm AEST

No charge but registration is essential.

Can’t make the live session? Register and we’ll send you a link to the recording.

Latest webinar recordings

Guide to Pavement Technology Part 4D: Stabilised Materials
This webinar, presented on 11 April 2019, gives as overview of the key changes to the Guide and the significant advances in the areas of stabilisation or road pavements.

A National Approach to Measuring Non-fatal Crash Outcomes
This webinar, presented on 4 April 2019, gives an overview of an Austroads pilot project to improve the measurement and reporting of serious injury crashes.

Road Risk Assessment, Case Studies and Engagement Guidance for Speed Management
This webinar, presented on 26 March 2019, provides an overview of Infrastructure Risk Rating - a simple road assessment methodology designed to assess road safety risk at a network level, primarily as an input to the speed limit setting process.

Guide to Road Safety Part 6: Managing Road Safety Audits
This webinar, presented on 21 March 2019, provides an overview of the new Guide to Road Safety Part 6: Managing Road Safety Audits.

View all our past webinars online www.austroads.com.au/webinars.

World Road Association Technical Committee Updates

Austroads currently has full or corresponding representatives on 15 World Road Association technical committees.

The technical committee representatives are either members of or have a close working relationship with an Austroads Taskforce or working group.

Road Tunnels Operations

The Road Tunnels Operations technical committee is studying sustainable road tunnel operations and developing an improved understanding of safety management in underground road networks. Much of the work will be incorporated into an updated Road Tunnels Manual.

Download the report by George Mavroyeni, AECOM Australia, who attended the committee meeting in March 2019.

Latest ITF resources

The International Transport Forum (ITF) is an intergovernmental organisation with 59 member countries. ITF is the only global body that covers all transport modes. The ITF is politically autonomous and administratively integrated with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

ITF Research Reports are in-depth studies of transport policy issues of concern to ITF member countries. They present the findings of dedicated ITF working groups, which bring together international experts over a period of usually one to two years, and are vetted by the ITF Transport Research Committee.

Smart Use of Roads

This report considers the innovative use of existing infrastructure and the adoption of emerging digital technologies to optimise the use of road capacity. It focuses on using big data to identify the traffic bottlenecks in real-time and manage peak demand with innovative measures at the local and network levels. The report examines the effectiveness and efficiency of a range of instruments for active traffic demand management and also considers application issues. It includes a review of the latest road pricing technologies used in several Asian cities.

Download the report

Improving Transport Planning and Investment Through the Use of Accessibility Indicators

Accessibility of goods, jobs, services and other opportunities is a fundamental condition for ensuring the well-being of citizens. This report examines how accessibility indicators can be used to improve transport planning and investment with that objective in mind. It also identifies principles for accessibility-based decision making and discusses how accessibility indicators can be effectively operationalised.

Download the report

Pre-advised PBS Applications Extended

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has expanded the PBS pre-advised design approvals to include B-double combinations up to 30 metres.

NHVR Chief Engineer Les Bruzsa said the pre-advised process was improving processing times. “Since we conducted a trial of pre-advised design approvals last year, we have been steadily adding combinations to now cover 85 per cent of all design approvals. This has reduced application processing times for applicable vehicle types from an average of four weeks to just three business days.”

Read more

Road Freight on the Rise

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has published 9208.0 - Survey of Motor Vehicle Use, Australia, 12 months ended 30 June 2018. Australian freight vehicles moved an estimated 214,789 million tonne-kilometres (tkm) of freight across Australia’s road network in 2017-18, according to figures released by the ABS.

Director of ABS Transport Statistics, Lauren Binns, said: “The 2017-18 figure represents a 5.0 per cent increase in tonne–kilometres (one tonne moved on road over one kilometre) since 2016.”

New information from the Survey of Motor Vehicle Use will help inform national freight and supply chain priorities aimed at improving the safety and efficiency of the Australian freight task.

Read th e publication

Latest BITRE resources

Road Deaths Australia—Monthly Bulletins

This bulletin contains current counts and summaries of road crash deaths and fatal road crashes in Australia. It is produced monthly and published on BITRE's website on or around the 14th of each month. Data are sourced from the road traffic or police authorities in each jurisdiction.

Download the March 2019 report

Auto Skills Australia Churchill Fellowships

Apply now for an Auto Skills Australia Churchill Fellowship to travel overseas for 4-8 weeks to investigate inspiring automotive practices and meet with sector leaders. Use the knowledge and experience you gain from around the world to make a difference in Australia.

The new Auto Skills Australia Churchill Fellowship is for projects that will increase industry expertise and knowledge for the benefit of the automotive sector and its allied industries.

Applications close 30 April 2019.