AustroadsNews | March 2018 

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

Contents

• Austroads farewells Asset Program Manager

• Austroads Guide to Bridge Technology updated to align with new AS 5100

• Towards Safe System infrastructure

• Reducing workplace road trauma

• Preparing Austroads' Asset Data Standard for BIM

• Long-term pavement monitoring continues to shape performance knowledge

• Investigating local road access for high productivity freight vehicles

• Austroads webinars now available as podcasts

• We're rolling out closed captions on webinars

• Register now for Webinar: Geopolymer Concrete and its Applications

• Webinar: Pavement Design Guide to Pavement Technology Parts 2 and 4C, now online

• Webinar: National Performance-based Asphalt Specification Framework, now online

• Innovating regional road maintenance in NSW

• ARSC2018 

• World Road Association technical committee update

• Road and transport research reports

• Upcoming workshops + conferences

Austroads Guide to Bridge Technology updated to align with new AS 5100

Austroads has released an updated Guide to Bridge Technology to align with the recently revised AS 5100 and changes in industry practice.

The Guide provides a step-by-step approach to the planning process, building materials, bridge construction, learnings from the past, types of bridge designs and the management and ongoing maintenance of older bridge types.

Bridges in Australia and New Zealand are designed in accordance with AS 5100 (Bridge Design), and the NZ Transport Agency Bridge Manual. The Guide provides supporting information to the Standards, enabling users to apply and interpret them to achieve the best design, assessment, management and maintenance outcomes.

The Guide to Bridge Technology was first published in 2009 and a complete revision of this series has been undertaken, including the addition of a new Part which covers the hydraulic design of waterway structures.

Towards Safe System infrastructure

Austroads has released a report that provides a compendium of knowledge on Safe System treatments and identifies real world experience in the practical application of solutions that can mitigate crash severity.

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.

Assessment frameworks and tools are also now emerging that allow the alignment with Safe System be better quantified. A hierarchy of treatments is described that provide practitioners with a basic understanding of the types of practices that should now be applied on a trajectory towards a Safe System. Primary treatments are capable of virtually eliminating death and injury and certain supporting treatments can transform the network a step closer to reducing the overall harm being caused.

Reducing workplace road trauma

Austroads has published a draft work health and safety guide that describes a process for dealing with road traffic hazards in line with work health and safety (WHS) legislation and road traffic safety (RTS) principles.

The report discusses the context within which work health and safety and road traffic safety currently intersect, and the process followed during the preparation of the guide. It includes an engagement strategy to support ongoing work in the area and is itself supported by a communications plan and evaluation plan.

Work health and safety legislation in Australia and New Zealand defines vehicles as a workplace. Vehicle use in road traffic is by far the most significant contributor to work-related traumatic injury.

Preparing Austroads' Asset Data Standard for BIM

Austroads has published a report that compares the Austroads Data Standard with buildingSMARTS’s IFC4 and Uniclass 2015. All are works in progress.

This report is a study of certain aspects of Austroads Data Standard for Road Management and Investment in Australia and New Zealand: Draft 2 Version 2 (due to be published in the first half of 2018).

The study found that the structure and content of the Data Standard can be improved to better serve road networks through the asset lifecycle, and to align with data standards for rail, water and other transport networks.

Long-term pavement monitoring continues to shape performance knowledge

Austroads has released a summary of the long-term pavement performance (LTPP) monitoring project activities undertaken in 2016–17.

An Austroads project (AT1064) has monitored the long-term structural and functional performance of a number of sealed granular, asphalt and concrete pavement sections under different climate and traffic loading regimes since 1995.

In 1999 additional sites, known as the long-term pavement performance maintenance (LTPPM) sites, were set up as part of the study to focus on the effects of maintenance on pavement performance.

The report presents a summary of the LTPP/LTPPM current conditions and historical performance trends over the entire monitoring period and a brief summary of results of a survey on future directions of the project.

Investigating local road access for high productivity freight vehicles

Austroads has published a report that examines the challenges of providing High Productivity Freight Vehicles (HPFV) with access to local roads.

The larger and heavier road freight vehicles of today have the potential to exceed the geometric and structural capacity of our road system. However, access decisions are often not based on infrastructure capacity. Regardless of their basis, barriers must be identified and overcome if Australia’s world-leading progression towards safer and more efficient road freight transport is to continue.

Local road managers are subject to specific challenges not faced by their state and territory counterparts. This, coupled with the importance of local road access to many transport tasks, puts the challenges currently faced by local road managers front and centre in this research.

Webinar: Tuesday 27 March 2018 | 1pm AEDT

This webinar will outline 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.

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.

Austroads webinars now available as podcasts!

Simply search for ‘Austroads’ in your podcast app on your smart device.

Alternatively, you can add our RSS feed http://podcasts.austroads.com.au/feed/

Subscribe to our channel to keep up to date with exciting transport research and trends.

We're rolling out closed captions on webinars

Austroads is pleased to announce closed captions will be available on webinar recordings.

The closed caption option is currently available on our webinar Pavement Design: Guide to Pavement Technology Parts 2 and 4C, and will be progressively rolled out on future and previous recordings. 

Turn captions on and off by clicking on the 'CC' button in the bottom right of the video control panel.

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: Pavement Design Guide to Pavement Technology Parts 2 and 4C, now online

This webinar, presented on 9 March, provides an overview of the major changes to the design of heavy-duty flexible pavements, including the new axle-strain approach central to the mechanistic-empirical design method, definitions of design traffic, and characterisation of cemented material and asphalt. Presented by Dr Michael Moffatt.

Webinar: National Performance-based Asphalt Specification Framework, now online

This webinar, presented on 27 February, provides an overview of an Austroads project to identify gaps in current practie for the performance characterisation of asphalt mixes. The ultimate aim is to develop a harmonised national performance-based asphalt specification framework that would take full advantage of the enhanced performance characteristics of current and emerging asphalt technologies. Presented by Joe Grobler.

Innovating regional road maintenance in NSW

Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) is inviting submissions as part of their Innovation Network: Innovating regional road maintenance initiative.

RMS want to partner with industry to innovate their maintenance program and deliver the benefits to regional and rural NSW road users.

Submissions are now open until 11:59pm on Wednesday 11th April 2018.

RMS is looking for innovations that are suitable for trial and ready for operationalisation on their projects. They should also offer efficiency savings for the agency and most importantly, more value for customers. Innovations could address one or more of the below core areas, including (but not limited to):

• infrastructure inspections, monitoring or surveying
• pavements inspections
• safety
• resealing
• communication, skills, resources or knowledge sharing
• Reducing paperwork, efficiencies with reports, timesheets
• corridor landscaping maintenance/vegetation clearance.

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.

World Road Association technical committee update

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 Design and Infrastructure for Innovation Transport Solutions

This Task Force will 'identify major considerations in the development and deployment of Vehicles-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication in road design and operations.'

Matthew Hall, VicRoads attended the Task Force meeting in January 2018

Road and transport research reports

​NZ Transport Agency 

Speed limit reductions to support lower SCRIM investigatory levels 

February 2018
This report details a framework for rationally arriving at economically justifiable operating speed reductions to compensate for the inability to achieve recommended levels of skid resistance on high-risk curves. 

Network and asset management: benefits of real-time data

February 2018
This research investigated the applications of real-time technologies and data in asset and network management. 

The future of employment and economic activity and its transport and land use implications

January 2018
This report reviewed literature relating to the potential effects that automation and new technologies will have on the type, nature and characteristics of employment in the industrial, service and commercial sectors. 

Centre for Automotive Safety Research, The University of Adelaide

Analysis of crash data from safety camera intersections in South Australia

February 2018
The Centre for Automotive Safety Research at The University of Adelaide in Australia has released a report that analyses the injury crash data for several safety camera intersections in South Australia. This research was conducted in order to determine if safety cameras are having a measurable effect on mitigating crashes. 

Recommendations for a Graduated Licensing System for motorcyclists in South Australia

January 2018
The Centre for Automotive Safety Research at The University of Adelaide in Australia has released a report that describes possible elements that may be included in a Graduated Licensing System (GLS) for motorcyclists in South Australia. The goal of this research is to identify a set of GLS elements that may lead to reductions in crash involvement among novice motorcyclists. 

BITRE reports

Road deaths Australia—monthly bulletins

Released mid month - Latest March 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.

Freightline 5—Australian cotton freight transport

February 2018
The Freightline series is intended to provide information on interregional freight movements across Australia, filling a major gap in Australian transport-related data and information, to help better inform and support policy development and infrastructure planning.

Upcoming workshops + conferences

Transportation Group 2018 conference: Then, Now, Tomorrow | 21 - 23 March 2018, Queenstown, New Zealand

Pavement Preservation & Recycling Summit (PPRS) 2018 | 26 - 28 March 2018, France

NEW Austroads Webinar: Local Road Access for High Productivity Freight Vehicles |
27 March 2018, Online (no charge, but registration is essential)

NEW AMPEAK Asset Management Conference 2018 | 15 - 18 April 2018, Hobart, Tasmania

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

NEW 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

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

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

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