RoadWatch: Roundup

September 2020

Welcome to our monthly Austroads RoadWatch: Roundup for September. Discover our latest news, published reports, Guide updates, webinars and events.

Updated risk assessment process in roadside design guidance

Austroads’ updated edition of Guide to Road Design Part 6: Roadside Design, Safety and Barriers includes a new process to evaluate roadsides and in particular the relative safety benefits and risk associated with different road environments, different speeds and the spacing and offset of hazards.

The information in Guide to Road Design Part 6 enables designers to assess the risk posed by roadside hazards, establish the need for treatment, and determine the most appropriate treatment.

David Bobbermen, Austroads Safety and Design Program Manager, says the new procedure encourages risk assessment at the network level to achieve the best network outcome from roadside risk mitigation treatments and is a completely different way to think about roadside design.

Improving the delivery of transport infrastructure

Austroads has published a report investigating challenges and issues affecting the delivery of transport infrastructure projects and the consequential impacts on value for money, timeliness of delivery, agency and political reputation.

Focusing on projects valued between $1m -$100m, the report presents insights from surveys and interviews conducted with Australian and New Zealand industry experts and identifies short, medium and long term opportunities to improve the delivery of transport infrastructure in both countries.

Supporting consistent investment decision-making

Austroads has published a report that proposes a framework to better support transport investment decisions.

Ross Guppy, Austroads Transport Infrastructure Program Manager said governments are under increasing budgetary pressure and need ways to confidently decide which projects should be prioritised.

The proposed framework is designed to provide non-technical decision-makers with easy-to-understand outputs that help evaluate the benefits, costs and risks of different funding scenarios supporting investment decision-making across and within service groups, asset classes and expenditure categories.

Investigating variable speed limit signs readability

Austroads has published a research report describing the technical criteria that can improve the readability of electronic signs by Traffic Sign Recognition systems.

Traffic Recognition Systems (TSR) warn drivers when they exceed speed limits and in some cases control vehicle speeds. A lack of consistency in the deployment of traffic signs in Australia, their size, angle, positioning and varied designs, can lead to them being unreadable by TSR systems.

This report proposes electronic sign readability criteria for use by jurisdictions in the design and testing of electronic signs. It considers the requirements of traffic sign recognition systems in current vehicles and those soon to enter the market.

Next steps to National Temporary Traffic Management Training and Prequalification Schemes

Austroads has put in place a new website portal to keep industry and agencies up to date on the progress of the strategic project to harmonise the delivery of temporary traffic management services.

As the work on the development of the national training and prequalification schemes progresses, regular updates will be provided on this portal.

Austroads welcomes Sharon Tooley as Chief Information Officer

Austroads welcomes Sharon Tooley as Chief Information Officer, a new role providing ICT strategic direction for Austroads and Transport Certification Australia (TCA).

Geoff Allan, Austroads Chief Executive, says Sharon brings extensive skills and experience to the position and will ensure Austroads and TCA have systems and processes that best meet the needs of Austroads’ member organisations.

Upcoming Austroads webinars

There is no charge for our webinars, but registration is essential. It will allow us to send you a link to the recording if you can’t make the live session.

Updated Roadside Design Guidance - Crash Risk Evaluation | Register
Tuesday, 22 September 1 pm AEST
This webinar will focus on user guidance, including the practical application of the new procedure for evaluating the risk associated with roadside crashes on rural road networks and identifying where treatments are required.

Updated Optimising Project Delivery Performance | Register
Tuesday, 29 September 1 pm AEST
This webinar will present insights from Austroads’s recent report that investigates the challenges and issues affecting the delivery of transport infrastructure projects and the consequential impacts on value for money, timeliness of delivery, agency and political reputation.

Updated Updated Roadside Design Guidance - Crash Risk Evaluation Procedure Background | Register
Tuesday, 6 October 1 pm AEDT
This is a second webinar about the changes to Part 6 of the Austroads Guide to Road Design. The session will describe the procedure’s background in detail explaining the concepts and research behind it.

A Holistic Investment Prioritisation Framework for Road Assets | Register
Thursday, 8 October 1 pm AEDT
This webinar will present a holistic prioritisation framework that supports investment decision-making across and within service groups, asset classes and expenditure categories.

Implications of Pavement Markings for Machine Vision | Register
Wednesday 21 October 2020, 1 pm AEDT
This webinar will focus on the outcomes of the Austroads research project, which was conducted to understand how longitudinal pavement markings affect automated steering functions and how existing design and maintenance practices could be improved.

Harmonisation of Measurement and Mass Assessment Procedures for Special Purpose Vehicles in Australasia | Register
Thursday 5 November 2020, 1 pm AEDT
This webinar will describe the proposed procedures, including project background, research and consultation findings as well as the benefits that the adoption of these procedures can bring to the road infrastructure, road operators and the SPV industry.

Latest webinar recordings

View Austroads past webinars.

Recent research

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency

Developing methodologies for improving customer levels of service for walking

This research aimed to determine the key factors that contribute to the quality and attractiveness of the pedestrian network, and to incorporate those in a consistent framework to inform the planning, design and operation of transport systems.

Social impact assessment of mode shift

This research was commissioned to inform decision-makers about the social impacts of mode shift, and to enhance the likelihood that benefits will be equitably shared.

BITRE: Road deaths Australia

This monthly bulletin contains current counts and summaries of road crash deaths and fatal road crashes in Australia. It is 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.

In this BITRE's quarterly bulletin you will find information on a number of fatal heavy vehicle crashes in Australia.

You can also view monthly updated road safety statistics and an Australian Road Deaths Database.

Centre for Pavement Engineering Education

New series of short courses

The Centre for Pavement Engineering Education (CPEE) continues its educational and training program via its innovative adoption of online webinar learning mode.

Delivered in bite size chunks suited to maximising the learning process (2 X 1.5 hr Sessions each day x 2 days), plus optional complimentary Workshop. The following Specialist Series of short courses are on offer:

"Pavement Design and Construction" Series – understanding the principles and practices

Flexible Pavement Design – BOUND: 13 & 15 October
Mechanistic Pavement Design – CIRCLY: 20 & 22 October
Concrete Pavement Design Fundamentals: 4 & 5 November
Flexible Pavement Design – Unbound: 17 & 19 November

"Road Surfacings" Series – unsealed, sealed, defects & maintenance

Road Surfacings – Sprayed Seals: 27 & 29 October
Rural Road Surfacings – Unsealed: 10 & 12 November
Understanding Pavement Defects & Maintenance: 24 & 26 November
Stabilisation Fundamentals: 17 & 19 November

Early Bird discounts are available for all Courses.

CPEE now offers Graduate Certificate in Asset Management

CPEE has just received accreditation from the Federal Government's Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) to offer a four-unit Graduate Certificate in Asset Management from Semester 1 next year. This is an existing development and provide substantial opportunity for industry as it will be the only targeted asset management Graduate Certificate in Australia, industry developed and sponsored for online delivery. Austroads and the Institute of Public Works Engineers Australasia have both been instrumental in the outcome.

Full details will be announced shortly, however initial enquiries should be directed to info@pavementeducation.edu.au.

Upcoming events

Event organisers are carefully reviewing their arrangements to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Please be aware that details may change at short notice.

Australasian Tunnelling Conference, Melbourne, 29 November-3 December, 2020

2021 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, Online, 21-22 and 25-29 January 2021

IABSE Congress, Christchurch, 3-5 February 2021

17th ITS Asia Pacific Forum, Brisbane, 12-15 April 2021

AITPM National Traffic and Transport Conference, Brisbane, 27-30 July 2021

19th AAPA International Flexible Pavements Conference 2021, Brisbane, 16-18 August 2021

2021 Australasian Road Safety Conference, Melbourne, 28-30 September 2021