AustroadsNews | February 2017

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

2017 parking guide now available
Australasian connected and automated vehicle trials
Manufacturing geopolymer concrete bridge components
Introducing endurance limit concepts into Australasian asphalt design
Australian Infrastructure Yearbook
Australia Day Honours for Gary Liddle
International activities update
BITRE Road Safety Reports
ARSC2017 call for abstracts
Austroads Bridge Conference 2017
Upcoming workshops + conferences

2017 parking guide
now available

Austroads has published the second edition of the Guide to Traffic Management Part 11: Parking.

The Guide is concerned with the parking management process and provides guidelines for determining the demand for and supply of parking for all road users. The 2017 edition has additional information about shared space, risk, safety and best practice in permit parking management. Bicycle parking provision rates have been updated. New sections have been included covering Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), Parking Control and Payment Technologies, hybrid vehicles and self-driving vehicles.

Australasian connected and automated vehicle trials

The Austroads website now has a list of current Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) trials involving Austroads member road transport authorities. The list will be updated as new trials are announced. Trials are currently underway in New Zealand and six Australian jurisdictions.

Manufacturing geopolymer concrete bridge components

In late 2016 Austroads published a review of information on the formulation, manufacture, and properties of geopolymer binders and concretes.

The report will inform the manufacture of geopolymer concrete components for structural and non-structural bridge components and other road‑related infrastructure.

Introducing endurance limit concepts into Australasian asphalt design

Austroads has published a technical report that examines introducing endurance limit concepts into Australasian asphalt design.

The fatigue based design approach in the Guide to Pavement Technology Part 2: Pavement Structural Design will result in continual increases in asphalt design thickness due to ever increasing traffic loadings and the low asphalt moduli in some areas of Australia due to the warm climate. Some heavy duty full depth asphalt pavements in Australia's hotter climates are more than 400 mm thick. There is concern that such designs are overly conservative.

Australian Infrastructure Statistics—Yearbook 2016

In December BITRE released the 2016 edition of its popular Australian Infrastructure Statistics Yearbook. The Yearbook provides a single comprehensive source of Australian infrastructure statistics for transport, energy, communications and water infrastructure.

Statistics for Australian transport activity are provided from two perspectives: transportation activity measured in terms of what is being transported (freight or passengers), or transportation activity by mode (road, rail, aviation or shipping).

Download

Australia Day Honours for Gary Liddle

Congratulations to Gary Liddle who was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in this year’s Australia Day Honours List. Gary's award was for distinguished service to public administration in the Victorian transport sector through leadership in policy direction, infrastructure development, road safety and regulatory reform.

Gary has served in a wide range of key transportation roles in Victoria including CEO of VicRoads, CEO of Public Transport Victoria, Deputy Secretary of Transport and most recently as Enterprise Professor of Transport at the University of Melbourne. He has also held a number of board level roles in key national bodies including the Austroads Board which he chaired from 2009-2012.

Gary Liddle

International Updates

World Road Congress

The proceedings of the 25th World Road Congress held in Seoul, South Korea in November 2015 are now available online at no charge.

Visit the website

World Road Association technical committees

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. The most recent progress reports on the work being conducted by the technical committees are available below.

Bridges

The Bridge Technical Committee is studying design and inspection practices, reviewing repair and rehabilitation strategies, and assessing evaluation models to help determine reliability and safety.

Suzanne Brown, DTMR Qld attended the Committee meeting in September 2016.

The Committee will distribute a Bridge Stock Survey to all member countries. Responses will be due in September 2017.

Read Suzanne's report

Tunnels

The Road Tunnels Operations Committee is studying sustainable road tunnel operations, developing an improved understanding of safety management in the light of accidents and fires, and expanding the study of underground road networks. Much of the work will be incorporated into an updated Road Tunnels Manual.

George Mavroyeni, AECOM, attended the Committee meeting in October 2016.

Read George's report

Environmental Considerations

The Environmental Considerations in Road Projects and Operations Committee is addressing noise reduction and air quality.

Rob Hannaby, NZTA, attended the Committee meeting in October 2016.

The Committee is seeking international case studies that demonstrate how Intelligent Transport System solutions have been used to address transport-related air quality and noise impacts.

Read Rob's report

Sustainable Multimodality

The Sustainable Multimodality in Urban Regions Technical Committee is identifying and comparing mobility strategies designed to improve travel choices and accessibility in urban environments. The committee will focus on:

Multimodal urban transportation policies and strategies
Road based mobility solutions including multimodal interchanges and new road mobility
Land use and urban development.

Michael McClean, VicRoads attended the Committee meeting in October 2016.

Read Michael's report

Safer Infrastructure

The Design and Operations of Safer Road Infrastructure Technical Committee will focus on issues pertinent to vulnerable road users, driver distraction and fatigue, and how human factors should be considered in road design and operations. The work will be incorporated into the Road Safety Manual and lead to Road Safety Audit guidelines.

Jessica Franklin, VicRoads, attended the Committee meeting in October 2016.

Read Jessica's report

Network Operations/ITS

The work of the Road Network Operations/Intelligent Transportation Systems Technical Committee is focussed on updating the ITS/Road Network Operation Manual. It will also examine the issue of Big Data and its applications to road transport.

Dr Ian Espada, ARRB, attended the committee meeting in October 2016.

Read Ian's report

BITRE Road Safety Reports

Road Deaths Australia—Monthly Bulletins
Released mid month - Latest January 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.

Driverless Rollout in Australia Briefing

Sydney, 17 February 2017

Roads Australia and Austroads are hosting a National Stakeholder Briefing to update stakeholders on the driverless roll-out in Australia.

The half-day program will cover progress towards a nationally consistent approach to policy and regulation around connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), and map out future steps towards a consensus approach.

Speakers include Judith Zielke, Deputy Secretary of the Federal Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development; Nick Koukoulas, CEO of Austroads; Marcus Burke, Project Director – Compliance & Technology, National Transport Commission; and QTMR General Manager (Land Transport Safety) Customer Services, Safety & Regulation, Dennis Walsh.

More info

ARSC2017 - Call for Abstracts

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: