AustroadsNews | August 2017 

Welcome to the August 2017 edition of AustroadsNews. If you have been forwarded this email you can subscribe here to receive future updates.

Contents

• Webinar: Benefits of enhanced end to end supply chain visibility

• Bituminous binders guidance updated

• Road management guidance updated

• Intersection traffic management guidance updated

• Assessing Fitness to Drive correction issued

• More than 28,000 tonnes of EME2 now laid in Australia

• Reducing the impact of planned and unplanned incidents

• Extra large wheel tracking device out-performs repeated load triaxial testing

• BITRE Road Safety Reports

• ARSC2017

• Upcoming workshops + conferences

Webinar: Benefits of enhanced end to end supply chain visibility

Tuesday, 15 August 2017 | 11 am AEST

In March 2017 Austroads released a report quantifying the benefits of improving multi-modal supply chain efficiencies, primarily through improved tracking.

Industry participants in real time pilot projects, adopting a global data standard and associated technology, experienced improved planning, reduced turnaround times at delivery and pick up points, and an increase in, as well as a reduction of failures of, delivery in-full on-time (DIFOT).

This webinar will provide you with a demonstration of the tangible benefits to the Australian economy that efforts to improve supply chain visibility can bring.

You will gain an understanding of:

• how the adoption of a global data standard could represent significant time and money savings to freight industry participants, and a boost to the national economy; and

• the technologies that are driving the digital integration of supply chains.

Join a live Q&A with the presenters who will discuss how to encourage the widespread adoption of a global data standard in Australia.

Bituminous binders guidance updated

Austroads has published an updated edition of the Guide to Pavement Technology Part 4F: Bituminous Binders.

The Guide covers the use of bituminous materials in road construction and maintenance.

Bituminous materials include bitumen obtained from refining crude petroleum oil and products derived from bitumen through additional manufacturing processes or the use of additives. Reference is also made to other sources of bituminous materials and non-bituminous binders.

The Guide introduces bituminous binder technology, including the properties, composition and principal assessment tests of bituminous materials. It also discusses the selection of bituminous binder types for particular applications.

The second edition of the Guide includes comprehensive technical and editorial revisions to the text:

• Guidance on safety and environmental issues has been updated to reflect current legislative requirements along with information relating to bitumen and polymer modified binder (PMB) specifications.
• Information on binder testing has been updated to reflect current practice.
• Additional information on cutback bitumen, PMBs and bitumen emulsions has also been included.
• The sections relating to other types of binders and bituminous binder additives have been updated to include additional materials and the results of recent Austroads studies.

Road management guidance updated

Austroads has published an updated edition of the Guide to Traffic Management Part 5: Road Management.

The Guide is concerned with traffic management on sections of road between major intersections. It presents detailed information and guidelines relating to the factors that need to be considered in applying traffic management techniques and treatments to road types that include motorways and expressways, urban arterial roads, urban local roads, rural highways and rural local roads.

Part 5 considers the needs of all road users including pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, heavy vehicles and public transport. It provides the guidance under the four key areas of access management, road space requirements for general traffic use, allocation of road space between rod users, lane management and speed limits.

This third edition updates previous Austroads guidance on road management by presenting the latest practices and guidelines for a broad range of road management topics and bringing guidance in line with the latest Safe System practice. Section 1 has been updated to provide discussion on the concepts of Movement and Place and Network Operation Planning. Section 3 has been revised and a new Section 4 has been added to provide more detailed guidance on road allocation. Section 6 is updated with differential speed limits and amended guidance for establishing speed limits.

Webinar | Tuesday, 12 September 2017 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM AEST

This webinar will provide you with an overview of the key changes to the Guide such as the incorporation of concepts such as Movement and Place, Network Operation Planning, road allocation and the establishment of speed limits. It will be particularly useful for practitioners dealing with mid-block road management, including speed management.

Join in a live Q&A with our presenter to ask questions about the recent update to the Guide.

Intersection traffic management guidance updated

Austroads has published an updated edition of the Guide to Traffic Management Part 6: Intersections, Interchanges and Crossings.

The Guide is concerned with traffic management at all types of intersections where road users must join or cross another stream of traffic.

Part 6 describes the appropriate use of various intersection types and the techniques required to provide efficient and safe intersections to all road users. All categories of road use, including cars, trucks, public transport, motorcycles, cyclists and pedestrians, (including people who have disability or mobility difficulty) are addressed in the Guide.

This third edition has been updated to reflect updates in Austroads Guides, as well as recent relevant research, emerging guidance and best practices, including the Safe System approach, Safe System Assessment Framework, vulnerable road users, network operations planning and managed motorways. New commentaries on emerging issues have also been provided including unconventional and innovative intersection designs and the rural intersection active warning system.

Assessing Fitness to Drive correction issued

Austroads has issued a Corrigendum to Assessing Fitness to Drive 2016 and published an updated PDF version.

The Corrigendum sets out corrections to Assessing Fitness to Drive which came into effect on 1 October 2016.

Two errors were identified in Assessing Fitness to Drive 2016 relating to:

• repaired abdominal and thoracic aneurysms; and
• the use of visual aids, specifically telescopic lenses (bioptic lenses) and electronic aids.

The Corrigendum corrects those errors and updates contact details for the Driver Licensing authorities listed in Appendix 9.

Download the Corrigendum here.

Download a PDF of Assessing Fitness to Drive 2016 (as amended up to August 2017). 

Future hard-copy orders will include a copy of the Corrigendum.

More than 28,000 tonnes of EME2 now laid in Australia

Austroads has published the final report for a three-year project designed to assist industry in the successful transfer of French EME2 technology to Australia.

More than 28,000 tonnes of EME2 have now been laid across Australia.

Enrobés à Module Elevé Class 2 (EME2) asphalt mixes are produced using a hard paving grade bitumen applied at a high binder content (approximately 6%).

Compared to conventional asphalt bases with unmodified binders, EME2 asphalt is characterised by high stiffness, high durability, superior resistance to permanent deformation and good fatigue resistance.

EME2 technology offers the prospect of reduced asphalt thicknesses for heavy duty pavements, and lower construction and maintenance costs.

Reducing the impact of planned and unplanned incidents

Austroads has published a report detailing current local and international incident management techniques, and proposing a harmonised incident management framework that supports network operations planning.

Austroads member agencies recognised that a nationally agreed incident management framework, based on contemporary leading practices and techniques, could reduce the impact of planned and unplanned incidents, and support the optimisation of network operations. Additionally, the use of a harmonised approach would allow recent developments in network operations planning and safe system to be considered.

Webinar | Tuesday, 29 Aug 2017 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM AEST

Gain an understanding of:

• the seven management principles underpinning the traffic incident management (TIM) framework
• baseline and emerging TIM techniques
• current and contemporary incident management practices in Australasia
• the relevance of TIM practices and techniques to network operations planning and Safe System approach

Join in a live Q&A with our presenters to ask questions about techniques for incident management.

Extra large wheel tracking device out-performs repeated load triaxial testing

Austroads latest technical report concludes that the Extra Large Wheel Tracking Device (XL-WT) test is a more useful test than the Repeated Load Triaxial (RLT) test in predicting the deformation resistance and in-service performance of granular materials.

In 2010, Austroads investigated how RLT testing could be used to predict and rank the deformation properties of granular materials. The investigation included a comparison of the RLT test results to full-scale pavement accelerated loading data. As a result, doubts were raised about the usefulness of the test to evaluate the rut‑resistance of granular materials. Subsequently, some exploratory research using an XL‑WT device was undertaken, which indicated that it may have greater potential than the RLT test to predict deformation resistance and in-service performance of granular materials.

As a result, Austroads undertook the development and commissioning of new XL‑WT test equipment and test methods aimed at assessing the performance ranking of granular materials through the measurement of deformation and moisture sensitivity. This led to the need to assess how well the XL‑WT laboratory test method was able to predict in-service performance of granular materials.

BITRE Reports

Road deaths Australia—monthly bulletins

Released mid month - Latest July 2017
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.

Freight rates in Australia

Released July 2017
​This Information Sheet presents an estimate of interstate freight rates for road, rail, sea and air modes back to 1965. 

Costs and benefits of emerging road transport technologies

Released June 2017
This report summarises estimates of the costs and benefits of ITS, C-ITS and automated vehicles from the existing Australian and international literature. It also provides policy makers with guidance on what further research would improve understanding of the implications of these technologies under Australian conditions.

ARSC2017 

Perth, 10-12 October 2017

The 2017 Australasian Road Safety Conference (ARSC2017) will be held in Perth from Tuesday to Thursday 10-12 October 2017. The Australasian College of Road Safety, Austroads, ARRB and Curtin Monash Accident Research Centre are proud to support the largest road safety-dedicated conference in the Southern Hemisphere.

With a theme “Expanding our horizons”, ARSC2017 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.

Upcoming Workshops + Conferences

2017 AAPA International Flexible Pavements Conference | 13-16 August 2017, Melbourne, Victoria

NEW Austroads Webinar: Benefits of Enhanced End to End Supply Chain Visibility | Tuesday, 15 August 2017, Online

AITPM National Traffic and Transport Conference | 15-17 August 2017, Melbourne, Victoria

NEW Austroads Webinar: Techniques for Incident Management to Support Network Operations Planning | Tuesday, 29 August 2017, Online

NEW Austroads Webinar: Guide to Traffic Management Part 5: Road Management (2017 Edition) | Tuesday, 12 September 2017, Online

Australasian Road Safety Conference | 10-12 October 2017, Perth, Western Australia

Concrete 2017 | 22-25 October 2017, Adelaide, South Australia

ITS World Congress | 29 October-2 November 2017, Montréal, Canada

Australasian Tunnelling Society Conference 2017 | 30 October-1 November 2017, Sydney, NSW

IRF World Road Meeting | 14-17 November 2017, Delhi, India

ADVI 2nd International Driverless Vehicle Summit | 16-17 November 2017, Adelaide, South Australia

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

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

IABMAS 2018 | 9-13 July 2018, Melbourne, Victoria