AustroadsNews | October 2016 

Welcome to the October edition of AustroadsNews. This newsletter provides a run-down on our latest publications, links to other relevant work in Australasia, and links to upcoming seminars and conferences.

If you have been forwarded this email you can subscribe here to receive future updates.

Neil Scales, Austroads Chair and Peter Duncan, immediate past Austroads Chair.

Neil Scales next Chair of Austroads Board

The Director-General of the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Mr Neil Scales OBE has been appointed as the Chair of the Austroads Ltd Board for a two-year term from October 2016.

Neil was appointed to the role at the October Austroads Board meeting, where he acknowledged the excellent work of outgoing Chair, Peter Duncan AM who has served on the Austroads Board for five years and as Chair since November 2014.

Neil will be the first Queensland Chair of the Board since Mr Alan Tesch, former Associate Director-General held the role from 2007-2009. He is also the current Australian first delegate to the World Road Association international road organisation.

As Director-General of the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Neil has responsibility for an operating budget of $6.021 billion, capital budget of $3.133 billion and managed assets worth $57.5 billion.

With more than 40 years of experience in the transport industry, Neil is also Deputy Chair of ARRB Group (formerly Australian Road Research Board), commissioner of the National Transport Commission, board member of Roads Australia, Queensland Transport and Logistics Council, Tourism and Transport Forum and Australasian Centre for Rail Innovation.

Austroads annual report 2015-16

Each year Austroads produces an annual report which details its work program, operations and financial management.

The annual report provides a detailed review of the strategic focus of each Austroads Program as well as the projects completed and progressed during the year.

At a glance, in 2015-16 Austroads:

• undertook a $12.9m research work program
• employed 10.6 (full-time equivalent) national office staff and 8.6 NEVDIS staff
• completed 62 projects
• released 79 publications
• enabled 317,000 Austroads publications to be sold and downloaded
• transacted 125 million NEVDIS enquiries.

Geometric design guidelines updated

Austroads has published the third edition of the Guide to Road Design Part 3: Geometric Design.

The Guide provides road designers and other practitioners with information about the geometric design of road alignments.

Changes to this edition of the Guide include:

• Expanded information on the design objectives
• Additional information on vulnerable road users, particularly motorcyclists
• New information on emergency aircraft runway strips
• Guidance for determining desired speed for rural roads and on steep grades
• Additional guidance on crown line and rural road lane and shoulder widths
• Additional guidance on shoulder widths and sealing
• Additional guidance on verge slopes and rounding
• Additional information on providing bicycle lanes
• New guidance on a procedure for designing superelevation and development of superelevation on shoulders
• New information outlining a procedure for checking critical vertical clearance points
• Additional guidance on selecting a starting and terminating point of an auxiliary lane.
• New appendices: emergency aircraft runway strips; narrow median treatments with wire rope safety barrier; guidance for wide centreline treatments; and flowcharts and table for determining stopping sight distance requirements for curves with barriers.

 This edition was prepared by Richard Fanning, Gary Veith, Mike Whitehead and Peter Aumann, ARRB Group and project managed by Richard Fanning, VicRoads and John Spathonis, Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads.

The hard copy can be purchased for $176 (+postage and handling) and the PDF for $140.80.

Austroads members can download PDF versions of the Guides for free. This includes all state and territory road agencies and local councils in Australia and New Zealand.

To request your user login and password for free access please send an email from your work email address to austroads@austroads.com.au.

Webinar: Austroads Guide to Road Design Part 3: Geometric Design
18 October and 25 October 2016 | 2-3pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time

This two-part webinar will provide participants with an overview of the updated Guide to Road Design Part 3. 

Presented by Peter Aumann, Principal Research Engineer, ARRB Group. Peter specialises in road design with a cross over in traffic management and road safety. He has played a pivotal role in the 2016 update of the Guide.

No charge but registration is essential.

More information and registration

Traffic impacts of land-use developments guidance updated

Austroads has published the second edition of the Guide to Traffic Management Part 12: Traffic Impacts of Developments.

The Guide helps practitioners to identify and manage the impacts of land use developments on the road system, ensuring consistency in the assessment and treatment of traffic impacts, including addressing the needs of all road users and the effects on the broader community.

In this second edition the Guide has been updated throughout to include the Safe System approach and, where appropriate, restructured to prioritise safety. 

Other changes include:

• identification of additional and updated sources of traffic generation rates
• additional comment on rural projects 
• inclusion of logistics plans in the section on travel demand management and sustainable development
• a new section within road network planning to introduce the notion of link-and-place
• an update to the parking section to include electric vehicles 
• an update to the description of vehicle types to note that general access vehicles may be up to 19 m long 
• new content in the road user considerations section to include light rail, bus rapid transit systems, and network operating frameworks and plans
• restructuring the chapter on assessment of other impacts to prioritise road safety assessment.

This edition was prepared by Prof. Glenn Geers and Michael Levasseur, ARRB Group and project managed by Andrew McIntyre, Roads and Maritime Services NSW.

The hard copy can be purchased for $44 (+postage and handling) and the PDF for $35.20.

Austroads members can download PDF versions of the Guides for free. This includes all state and territory road agencies and local councils in Australia and New Zealand.

To request your user login and password for free access please send an email from your work email address to austroads@austroads.com.au.

ARRB Webinar: The updated Austroads GTM Part 12: Traffic Impacts of Developments

08 Nov 2016, 02:00PM - 03:00PM AEDT

This webinar will provide attendees with an overview of the updated Guide to Traffic Management Part 12: Traffic Impacts of Developments. Attendees will gain an understanding of the revisions in the Guide; especially in reference to the adoption of Safe System Principles throughout all phases of transport planning and operations.

Prof. Glenn Geers, Principal Engineer, Network Operations and Management at ARRB Group will present the webinar. Glenn is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales. Glenn was responsible for the update of the AGTM12 - a noteworthy achievement among his impressive portfolio of project work. 

This webinar is offered as part of the ARRB webinar subscription package. 

Best practice bicycle parking

Austroads has published a report to guide the design and installation of bicycle parking facilities and end-of-trip facilities.

The report provides recommendations and principles as well as examples of best-practice facility design. The report also highlights common mistakes and suggests ways to improve flawed designs.

Bicycle parking is an important part of developing infrastructure to support the use of bicycles, particularly for transport purposes.

More people are choosing to use the bicycle as a general means of transport. Interest is particularly strong over short trips and in areas where competing modes of transport are expensive, congested, inefficient or unreliable. This increase in bicycle use increases the demand for bicycle parking and related end-of-trip facilities. When executed well, bicycle parking investment not only meets current demand, but can stimulate an increase in cycling use.

This report provides information that allows owners, managers, designers and installers to:

• understand the benefits of installing bicycle parking
• consider special issues that apply to the provision of bicycle parking for various applications
• gain familiarity with the various product types on the market and how they may be utilised
• assess and meet bicycle parking demand over the lifespan of a bicycle parking installation
• choose the appropriate location for bicycle parking
• design appropriate access to the bicycle parking facility
• plan and design the internal layout of a bicycle parking facility to provide easy and safe access to bicycles
• plan and design the surrounding building features such as walls, floors, corridors and lighting
• plan and design end-of-trip facilities such as showers, lockers and change facilities
• operate the facility on a day-to-day basis.

This report should be read in conjunction with the Australian Standard for Bicycle Parking (AS2890.3) which provides detailed information on certain aspects of bicycle parking, such as the geometric spacing that is required to provide adequate clearance for access to bicycles during the parking process.

At the same time, Austroads has published a report that recommends updates to the Guide to Traffic Management Part 11: Parking, which provides guidance on parking provision rates and other jurisdictional guidance.

Report Links: 

Bicycle Parking Facilities: Guidelines for Design and Installation 

Bicycle Parking Facilities: Updating the Austroads Guide to Traffic Management

Improving the safety and productivity of urban freight

Austroads has published a report summarising the work undertaken to develop a policy framework to enhance the productivity, safety and efficiency of urban freight movements.

It found that gains are likely to be from the cumulative effect of many initiatives rather than a single isolated 'silver bullet' solution.

The project reviewed international urban freight practices and identified a number of initiatives which could be relevant for Australasian urban freight operations.

Government and industry consultations identified seven categories of high priority initiatives:

1. Better integration of freight in decision-making
   More consistently considering freight in the early stages of decision making such as in land use planning and new ways of consulting with industry need to be explored.
2. Port-rail container shuttle trains
   Reducing the number of trucks on roads by providing rail alternatives for freight departing or entering through major ports and can improve efficiency, environmental performance and amenity.
3. Routing and scheduling systems
   Optimising delivery/pickup choice through best available network and fleet information supports improved planning, productivity and environmental performance.
4. Extend HPFV/PBS routes
   Reducing the number of trucks transiting through urban areas by extending the network of routes suitable to carry higher mass limit vehicles. 
5. Consolidation of deliveries 
   Reducing the number of vehicles entering urban areas without full loads through the provision of urban consolidation centres or freight terminals can improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact.
6. Enhanced management of loading zones
   Better managing loading zones to reduce illegal practices, congestion and lost time in inner-city areas and optimise use through technology such as intelligent parking booking systems.
7. Traffic signal scheduling to better meet truck performance
   Reducing the need for trucks to stop can improve productivity, safety and fuel consumption.

The report recommends an implementation plan highlighting lead organisations for each prioritised initiative, indicative time frames and relative cost.

Australian road freight estimates: 2016 update

In September BITRE published estimates of the road freight task in Australia between 1969-70 and 2015-16. Estimates are available by state for interstate, intrastate and capital city road freight. In the period 1969-70 to 2015-16 total road freight estimate in Australia increased from 23 billion tonnekilometres (tkm) in 1969-70 to 212 billion tkm in 2014-15 (an average 5 per cent annual growth rate). Western Australia had the highest historical growth rate for total interstate road freight, averaging 6 per cent per annum from 1969-70 to 2014-15. Brisbane experienced the highest historical growth rate for capital city road freight at 6 ½ per cent per annum from 1969-70 to 2014-15..

Australian toll roads

In September BITRE published an overview of toll roads in Australia. The paper covers a range of subjects including information on traffic performance, industry structure and benefits of toll roads and future challenges.

There are currently 16 toll roads operating in Australia with a total length of 241 km. Most involve some form of Public Private Partnership (PPP). Of the 16, eight are in NSW, two in Victoria and six in Queensland.

NTC releases possible new scenarios for Australia’s transport future

The National Transport Commission (NTC) has released a series of papers examining how Australia’s transport system might work in the lead up to the year 2040.

The series of snapshots reveal the transformational impact of factors like automated vehicles, better realtime data and analytics, more riding sharing and changes in consumer preferences.

The papers were released to coincide with the ITS World Congress being held in Melbourne last week.

Chief executive of the NTC Paul Retter said because Australia was set to see the biggest change in transport since cars replaced horses, both industry and government organisations should increasingly prepare for uncertainty and look for new ways to encourage innovation.

“These four scenarios are not predictions of the future, but they help industry, governments and the community examine the implications of changes in automation, data sharing, shared mobility and consumer demand,” Mr Retter said.

BITRE Road Safety Reports

Road Deaths Australia—Monthly Bulletins
Released mid month - Latest September 2016 
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.

Austroads Bridge Conference 2017:
Register now for early bird rates

Early bird closes 15 December  
More than 200 abstracts are currently being reviewed for the ABC2017 program which will feature themes of:

• Bridge Analysis, Design and Assessment
• Innovative Bridge Construction
• Bridge Technology
• Bridge Asset Management
• Bridge Management Strategies
• Bridge Engineering Heritage
• Sustainability and Life Cycle Cost
• Codes and Standards
• Material Technology
• Field Applications and Case Studies
• Lessons Learnt from Bridge Damages and Failures
• Load Assessment

• Feature Projects

ABC2017 will be held 3-6 April 2017 in Melbourne.

For more information visit the website www.abc2017.com.au

Upcoming Workshops + Conferences

Webinar: Austroads Guide to Road Design Part 3: Geometric Design |
18 October and 25 October 2016, online

ARRB Level 1 Bridge Inspection Workshop | 25-26 October 2016, Melbourne, Victoria

ARRB Level 2 Bridge Inspection Workshop | 27-28 October 2016, Melbourne, Victoria

Construction Materials Industry Conference 2016 (CMIC16​) | 26-28 October 2016, Melbourne, Victoria

ARRB Webinar: The updated Austroads GTM Part 12: Traffic Impacts of Developments |
08 Nov 2016, online

38th Australasian Transport Research Forum | 16-18 November 2016, Melbourne, Victoria

27th ARRB Conference | 16-18 November 2016, Melbourne, Victoria

ARRB webinar the updated Austroads GTM Part 10: Traffic Control and Communication Devices | 1 Dec 2016, online

10th Austroads Bridge Conference: ABC2017 | 3-6 April 2017, Melbourne, Victoria

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