AustroadsNews | June 2017 

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

Contents

• Community Service Obligations Framework for Roads

• General intersections and crossings guidance updated

• Unsignalised and signalised intersection guidance updated

• Guidance for walking and cycling paths expanded and updated

• New edition of Cycling Aspects of Austroads Guides released

• 3.74 m Australians cycle in a typical week

• National ITS Architecture project completes stage 2

• Mitigating risk and improving safety at road worksites

• Assessment of Key Road Operator Actions to Support Automated Vehicles webinar now online

• Road Asset Data Standard webinar now online

• BITRE Road Safety Reports

• ARSC2017

• Upcoming workshops + conferences

Community Service Obligations Framework for Roads

Austroads has published a report that examines the application of community service obligations (CSOs) to the roads sector and provides an overview of the potential options which could be utilised in the development of a Community Service Obligations framework.

In the report, a road is defined as being subject to a CSO when government obliges a public or private road infrastructure service provider to provide a minimum level of service, associated with specific government policy objectives, that it would not otherwise provide on a commercial basis.

Road service levels have evolved over time in response to a variety of factors, including explicit and implicit policy objectives and social benefit–cost analysis. While most state governments are able to articulate base levels of service in the Heavy Vehicle Road Reform (HVRR) framework, that is not the case for the small number of local governments that we consulted for this report.

The preferred method proposed to estimate a net CSO cost is via a net avoidable cost approach based on the additional or incremental costs and revenues associated with the requirement to achieve a higher level of service than would be provided commercially. A key implementation issue is the level of disaggregation of road categories for estimating profits and losses. Two potential options are to estimate profits/losses for each road or road segment or to base the estimate on road-use data and expenditures/ costs for defined road categories.

CSO arrangements will require establishing new institutional and governance frameworks.

Webinar

On Thursday 29 June 2017 (11am-12pm AEST)  Austroads will hold a webinar providing an overview of how CSOs could be applied to the roads sector and how establishing a CSO framework could help clarify road funding arrangements. There is no charge but registration is essential.

General intersections and crossings guidance updated

Austroads has published an updated edition of the Guide to Road Design Part 4: Intersections and Crossings – General.

The Guide provides road designers and other practitioners with information that is common to the geometric design of all at-grade intersections.

This includes information on the types of intersections, the road design considerations for intersections and the design process for the development of an intersection layout. Considerations include the selection of design vehicles, types of road users and provision of public transport facilities. Guidance is also provided for pedestrian, cyclist, and rail crossings.

This second edition contains editorial and technical updates including:

• Updates to road safety including the Safe System principles
• Additional information relating to the types of intersection and their selection
• Updated information on design vehicles to align with the revised Austroads vehicle turning path templates guide
• Updates to accommodating buses at intersections
• Additional information on types of pedestrian crossings.

Unsignalised and signalised intersection guidance updated

Austroads has published an updated edition of the Guide to Road Design Part 4A: Unsignalised and Signalised Intersections.

The Guide provides road designers and other practitioners with guidance on the detailed geometric design of all at‑grade intersections (excluding roundabouts).

It includes information about intersection sight distances, including approach sight distance, safe intersection sight distance, and minimum gap sight distance. Left and right turn treatments are outlined including the incorporation of auxiliary lanes at intersections and the use and size of traffic islands.

Updates have been made throughout this third edition to include new and updated reference material and cross‑references to other Guides. Most figures have been redrawn to provide a consistent appearance. The major updates include:

• updates to road safety, including the Safe System principles
• additional information relating to safe intersection sight distance and additional description in tables to assist in interpretation
• additional information on auxiliary lanes including turning radii, vehicle speeds, and acceleration lane lengths

Guidance for walking and cycling paths expanded and updated

Austroads has published an updated edition of the Guide to Road Design Part 6A: Paths for Walking and Cycling.

The Guide provides advice on the design of paths for safe and efficient walking and cycling, both within and outside the road corridor, including pedestrian paths, bicycle paths or cycle tracks, shared paths, and separated paths.

Pedestrians and cyclists need paths that are safe, connected, legible, comfortable, convenient, universal and pleasant. The Guide describes types of paths and covers the requirements of path users, factors that influence path locations, and geometric design criteria for a path and related facilities such as intersections between paths, and terminal treatments. Detailed guidance is provided on path location, alignment, width, clearances, crossfall, drainage and sight distance requirements.

This second edition has been restructured and contains editorial and technical changes. The title has been amended to better reflect the information on the functions and types of paths covered in this edition.

New edition of Cycling Aspects of Austroads Guides released

Austroads has published the third edition of the popular Cycling Aspects of Austroads Guides.

The publication contains information that relates to the planning, design and traffic management of cycling facilities and is sourced from Austroads Guides, primarily the Guide to Road Design, the Guide to Traffic Management and the Guide to Road Safety.

It is intended as a guide for engineers, planners and designers involved in the planning, design, construction and management of cycling facilities. Throughout the document practitioners are referred to relevant Austroads Guides for additional information.

There is no charge for the Guide.

3.74 m Australians cycle in a typical week

The Australian Bicycle Council's National Cycling Participation Survey 2017 results show that around 3.74 million people in Australia ride a bicycle for recreation or transport in a typical week.

The survey provides estimates of cycling participation (measured in the past week, month and year) across Australia and for each state and territory and has been conducted every two years since 2011.

While bicycle ownership has remained steady in comparison to the 2011 National Cycling Participation Survey, there has been a statistically significant decrease in the level of cycling participation in Australia between 2011 and 2017.

National ITS Architecture project completes stage 2

Austroads has now completed Stage 1 and 2 of the National ITS Architecture project by establishing Australia’s reference National ITS Architecture (NIA), its associated Framework and Roadmap for its further development.

To maximise its usability the NIA content has now been released in a number of industry standard file formats.

The National ITS Architecture provides a common approach for planning, defining, and integrating intelligent transportation systems and its development is listed as a priority action in the Policy Framework for ITS in Australia 2012 endorsed by Australia’s Transport and Infrastructure Council.

The architecture will enable Australian transport agencies and industry to deploy ITS in a consistent, interoperable way and deliver road safety, mobility and environmental outcomes for road transport users including private, freight and public transport modes.

Mitigating risk and improving safety at road worksites

Working on roads and roadsides poses significant risks to workers and motorists with changed roadway conditions, disrupted traffic flow, limited working space, and movement of construction and public vehicles in close proximity to workers and worksites.

The Safety at Road Worksites strategic priority project was initiated in 2015. The Austroads Board recognised that safety at roadworks was a significant issue for road agencies and industry. It was acknowledged that improvements are required to manage the risks associated with providing the optimal level of safety for employees and contractors working in or near traffic, combined with the need to provide a safe road environment for all road users. 

One of the early research tasks for the project was to understand contemporary practice in managing safety at road worksites and to recommend practical guidance from learnings that would be applicable to Australia and New Zealand. The scope of this research was limited to worksite issues and best practices related to interactions with public traffic.

The identified best practices have been published in a report in six groups: regulation, traffic signs and informational controls; enforcement related controls; traffic related operational controls; worksite/worker related operational controls; physical protection and separation related controls; and driver education and awareness campaigns.

Assessment of Key Road Operator Actions to Support Automated Vehicles webinar now online

This webinar, held on 16 June 2017, provides an overview of the challenges posed by the operation of automated vehicles on public roads. It covers three broad categories: 

• Physical infrastructure: physical attributes, road pavement and structures, signs and lines, roadworks. 
• Digital infrastructure: data management, positioning services, and communication technologies 
• Road operations: network management approaches such as Movement and Place, standards, guidelines, and regulations and roadworks.

Road Asset Data Standard webinar now online

Austroads is developing an Australasian Data Standard for Roads, that seeks to harmonise transport information across road agencies and local government in Australia and New Zealand.

This webinar, held on 1 June 2017, explains how the Austroads Data Standard is designed, the data definitions it contains, and the multiple ways it can be used; how harmonised data sets are being used to promote benefits at the local and national levels through case studies; and the plans to support data standard adoption through a range of tools and data collaboration ventures.

BITRE Road Safety Reports

Road Deaths Australia—Monthly Bulletins

Released mid month - Latest June 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.

Hospitalised Injury

Released June 2017
This Excel sheet provides summary traffic hospitalised injury series. These series are produced by the National Injury Surveillance Unit at Flinders University under an agreement with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The latest update includes data for the 2014 calendar year and the 2014-2015 financial year.

Spending by Australian households on owning and operating vehicles

Released May 2017
In this research, several elements of spending are examined, including the composition of that expenditure, the contribution of taxes and government charges, how the expenditure varies by broad region type and by key demographic characteristics, as well as the characteristics of those households with the greatest expenditure on owning and operating vehicles.

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

NEW Austroads Webinar: Community Service Obligations Framework for the Roads Sector | 29 June 2017, Online, no charge but registration essential

ASCP 4th Concrete Pavements Conference | 16-18 July 2017, Kingscliff, New South Wales

Australasian Corrosion Association Brian Cherry International Concrete Symposium | 26-27 July 2017, Melbourne, Victoria

Institute for Sensible Transport Road User Pricing Seminar | 8 August 2017, Sydney, NSW

Institute for Sensible Transport Road User Pricing Seminar | 10 August 2017, Melbourne, Victoria

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

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

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 | 15-17 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