AustroadsNews | April 2018 

Welcome to the April 2018 edition of AustroadsNews. If you have been forwarded this email you can subscribe here to receive future updates.  

Contents

• World Road Congress 2023

• Opportunity to lead our Assets Program 

• Feedback now open on Guide to Temporary Traffic Management Parts 2 and 8 

• New guidance on road construction quality assurance

• Roadmap to automated national bridge assessment

• Pedestrian Facility Selection Tool updated

• Best practice in road safety infrastructure programs

• Join us for Webinar: Towards Safe System Infrastructure

• Register now for Webinar: Geopolymer Concrete and its Applications

• Webinar: Local Road Access for High Productivity Freight Vehicles, now online

• Australian Road Safety Conference 2018 

• Road and transport research reports

• Upcoming workshops + conferences

World Road Congress 2023

Austroads has partnered with Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) and Business Events Sydney (BESydney) to bid to host the World Road Congress (WRC) in Sydney in 2023. The bid is also supported by other road agencies across Australia and New Zealand.

Hosting the congress in 2023 gives Australia and New Zealand an opportunity to showcase some of our groundbreaking innovation in road infrastructure and technology, learn from countries who are setting the benchmark in other areas, and play an active role in shaping the future of our global industry in today’s digital, globalised world.

We believe every country can apply the lessons from Australia and New Zealand’s strong partnership approach to the governance, delivery and funding of major projects. From developing nations, through to destinations with modern networks and the most advanced technology.

We hope you will support Australia and New Zealand’s bid and join us on the road to Sydney in 2023!

Opportunity to lead our Assets Program 

We are looking for a full-time senior manager to lead our Assets Program.

The Program works with expert teams across Australia and New Zealand to develop and maintain a rolling two-year work program addressing

• emerging technology – materials development
• strategic management of road infrastructure
• managing loading impacts
• pavement management
• bridge management
• managing for climate change
• sustainable roads and roadsides
• managing rural and remote roads.

The role is an opportunity to provide national leadership and collaborate on technical research and solutions to optimise Australasia's road networks.

Applications close Monday 23 April 2018.

Feedback now open on Guide to Temporary Traffic Management Parts 2 and 8 

Austroads has released Parts 2 and 8 of the Guide to Temporary Traffic Management for industry consultation. 

This new guide will, once completed, provide comprehensive national guidance for all practitioners operating in Temporary Traffic Management. 

The two draft parts released for comment are:

• Part 2: Traffic Management Plan (TMP)
• Part 8: Traffic Controller Instructions 

The drafts are available here, and comments should be included on the document review templates provided with the drafts. Comments provided on any other format may not be considered.

The industry comment period closes on Monday 30 April 2018.

New guidance on road construction quality assurance

Austroads has published the first edition of Guide to Project Delivery Part 5: Road Construction Quality Assurance. 

This Guide has been developed to address to shortcomings experienced in quality assured contracts by providing:

• a clear specification of road agency requirements for Quality Assurance (QA)
• a targeted, risk based approach to independent monitoring and reporting on the performance of a contractor’s QA process
• a resource that can be used for training across the industry.

Systematic and effective quality control by a road construction contractor, and reliable auditable evidence of that control, provides a win-win outcome for both contractors and road agency clients.

Effective quality control will enable the contractor to minimise rework and the associated cost and time over-runs. A transparent QA process with auditable evidence of compliance will enable the road agency to satisfy itself that what is built complies with specified requirements and can therefore be expected to achieve its intended life and performance at the expected whole of life cost.

Roadmap to automated national bridge assessment

Austroads has released a report that extends work previously undertaken to investigate the development and implementation of a national automated bridge assessment framework.

The report outlines the ongoing validation works, recommends a set of activities to assist in the deployment of the framework, and provides a roadmap to implementation.

This project has built on work conducted in Austroads project TP1681, which first investigated the potential for the framework. This stage of the project included further validation work, small scale trials of the framework with state jurisdictions and identification of key factors for the implementation.

Pedestrian Facility Selection Tool updated

Austroads has recently updated the Pedestrian Facility Selection Tool, designed to help Australian and New Zealand practitioners select the most appropriate type of pedestrian crossing based on walkability, safety and economic outcomes. 

Based on user feedback, the tool has been enhanced with more functionality including consideration of raised and flush medians, a new field for maintenance costs, a site inspection form and additional refinements to the tool.

Other updates include economic values, improved save/load function, unfeasibility reasons, visual style enhancements, crossing upgrades and new option to specify existing facility.

The tool was a finalist in the 2016 Golden Foot Awards 'Best Walking Initiative’ category and awarded Merit at the 2016 ACENZ awards dinner in Auckland.

Webinar: Tuesday 29 May 2018 | Online, 1pm AEST 

This webinar will provide you with an introduction to the tool and a demonstration on how to use it with a fully worked example.  

Presented by Dave Smith and Dr Stacy Rendall.

No charge, but registration is essential.

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

Best practice in road safety infrastructure programs

Austroads has released a report that provides best practice recommendations for the development of Road Safety Infrastructure Programs (RSIPs) that align with the safe system approach.

For many years, investment in road safety infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand has adopted a bottom-up approach of targeting safety improvements at locations with an established safety problem. This is commonly delivered through crash reduction programs, and black-spot and black route analyses and treatments. While this approach served Australia and New Zealand well in the past, the ability to achieve safety benefits based on reactive risk assessments and treatments has become increasingly difficult. This approach does not fully align with the safe system philosophy on which Australian and New Zealand road safety strategies are based.

The report’s recommendations provide practical information on ways to make greater fatal and serious casualty savings from road safety infrastructure investment by improving program design, process and implementation. When implemented by road controlling authorities this best practice approach will effectively contribute towards an enduring and safer transport system with fewer fatalities and serious injuries.

Webinar: Tuesday 15 May 2018 | Online, 1pm AEST 

This webinar will present best practice recommendations for the development of Road Safety Infrastructure Programs (RSIPs) that align with the safe system approach. 

Presented by Paul Durdin and Dave Smith.

No charge, but registration is essential.

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

Join us for Webinar: Towards Safe System Infrastructure

Thursday 10 May 2018 | Online, 1pm AEST 

The Safe System is internationally regarded as the best practice approach to road safety. Although Australia and New Zealand have been early adopters of the approach since 2004, there has generally been a lack of clarity amongst practitioners on how best to integrate the approach into their daily activities.

This webinar will provide an overview of the new Austroads compendium of knowledge on Safe System treatments and real world experience in the practical application of solutions that can mitigate crash severity.  It will outline information covered in a series of workshops on the translation of the Safe System approach, enabling attendees to consider the application of the theories onto their own road networks.

You will gain an understanding of the:

• new Austroads compendium on Safe System infrastructure relating to planning, designing and managing roads and roadsides
• origins of the Safe System and current implementation
• Safe System solutions that can be used to address key crash types
• tools that have been developed to help align infrastructure projects with Safe System outcomes.

Join in a live Q&A with the presenters to ask questions about Safe System infrastructure.

Presented by Dr Jeremy Woolley and Dr Blair Turner.

No charge but registration is essential.

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

Register now for Webinar: Geopolymer Concrete and its Applications

Tuesday 1 May 2018 | 12pm AEST

In 2017, Austroads completed a four-year research project to provide a base for the use of geopolymer concrete in structural and non-structural applications. The project consisted of a review of literature and experimental work. 

The webinar will outline the findings of the project and a current update of the use, monitoring and specification of geopolymer concrete by VicRoads over the past nine years. 

Join in a live Q&A with the presenters to ask questions about geopolymer concrete. 

Presented by Dr Ahmad Shayan and Fred Andrews-Phaedonos. 

No charge, but registration is essential.

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

Webinar: Local Road Access for High Productivity Freight Vehicles, now online

This webinar, presented on 27 March, outlines the contemporary barriers to local road access for high productivity freight vehicles, and some of the options available for local road managers when considering road access. Presented by Rob Di Cristoforo.

ARSC2018 

Sydney, 3-5 October 2018

The 2018 Australasian Road Safety Conference (ARSC2018) will be held in Sydney from Wednesday to Friday 3-5 October 2018. The Australasian College of Road Safety, Austroads, ARRB and Transport and Road Safety Research (TARS), UNSW are proud to support the largest road safety-dedicated conference in the Southern Hemisphere.

With a theme "Towards Zero: Making it Happen!”, ARSC2018 will showcase the regions’ outstanding researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and industry spanning the issues identified in the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety:

• Road Safety Management
• Infrastructure
• Safe Vehicles
• User Behaviour
• Post-Crash Care.

Road and transport research reports

​NZ Transport Agency 

Technology related transport skill requirements and availability

March 2018
The New Zealand Transport Agency has released a report that forecasts requirements for intelligent transportation system (ITS) technologies in 2035. This report identifies the associated industries, skills, and occupations in which ITS may be deployed, and assesses the role of training organisations. 

BITRE reports

Road deaths Australia—monthly bulletins

Released mid month - Latest April 2018
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.

Upcoming workshops + conferences

28th Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) International Conference 
29 April - 2 May 2018, Brisbane, Queensland

Austroads Webinar: Geopolymer Concrete and its Applications 
1 May 2018, Online (no charge, but registration is essential)

World Road Association's 8th Symposium on Pavement Surface Characteristics: SURF 2018
2 - 4 May 2018, Brisbane, Queensland

ITS Australia Mobility as a Service (MaaS) 2018 
3 May 2018, Sydney, New South Wales

NEW Austroads Webinar: Towards Safe System Infrastructure 
10 May 2018, Online (no charge, but registration is essential)

IPWEA Sustainability in Public Works Conference 
14 - 15 May 2018, Sydney, New South Wales

NEW Austroads Webinar: Best Practice in Road Safety Infrastructure Programs 
15 May 2018, Online (no charge, but registration is essential)

NEW Austroads Webinar: Updated Pedestrian Facility Selection Tool
29 May 2018, Online (no charge, but registration is essential)

RA - IRF Regional Conference for Asia and Australasia 
31 May - 1 June 2018, Sydney, New South Wales

ITS Australia National electronic Tolling and Charging (NeTC) 2018 
6 - 7 June 2018, Melbourne, Victoria

IABMAS 2018 
9 - 13 July 2018, Melbourne, Victoria

NEW Mobility as a Service (Maas) 
18 July 2018, Sydney, New South Wales

AITPM National Traffic & Transport Conference 
24 - 27 July 2018, Perth, Western Australia

2WALKandCYCLE Conference 
30 July - 1 August 2018, New Zealand

Australian ITS Summit 2018 
28 - 29 August 2018, Sydney, New South Wales

Australasian Road Safety Conference (ARSC2018) 
3 - 5 October 2018, Sydney, New South Wales