Welcome to our monthly Austroads RoadWatch: Roundup for April.
RoadWatch: Roundup
April 2021
Welcome to our monthly Austroads RoadWatch: Roundup for April. Discover our latest news, published reports, Guide updates, webinars and events.
Austroads welcomes Michael Nieuwesteeg as the Program Manager for Road Safety and Design
Geoff Allan, Austroads Chief Executive said, "Michael joins us from the Transport Accident Commission, having worked in Director roles in Road Safety and Programs, Safe System Road Infrastructure, and Road Safety Research. Austroads’ accountability to road safety is unwavering, and I believe Michael’s previous experience and leadership will make him an asset to our organisation.”
New guides to road design released
Austroads has consolidated the previous Guide to Road Design Part 1 and 2 into a new Part 1: Objectives of Road Design and created a new Part 7: New and Emerging Treatments.
The update to Part 1 of the Guide to Road Design provides practitioners with a detailed description of the critical aspects of road design and essentially combines the former parts 1, 2 and 8 into one single part. This will enable Part 2 to be utilised for network design considerations in a future update and the removal of Part 8 of the Guide.
In addition, a new Part 7: New and Emerging Treatments has been created to provide information to practitioners using emerging treatments which are known to provide some benefit from a safety and/or operational perspective but have not yet produced evidence for predominant contexts.
Tuesday, 25 May 2021, 1-2 pm AEST
Join Noel O’Callaghan, Malcolm Mak and Richard Fanning for an overview of the new parts.
Use of recycled plastic in asphalt
Austroads has published a comprehensive overview of the type, volume, and price of recycled plastics and their possible uses in asphalt.
Plastic is a significant contributor to Australia and New Zealand’s waste generation. With plastic consumption increasing significantly around the world, there is a growing interest in exploring the viability of using recycled plastics in road construction.
The report examines recycling processes, the price of recycled plastics, annual production volumes and infrastructure capabilities.
Ross Guppy, Austroads Transport Infrastructure Program Manager, says the content was informed by interviews with members of the plastics industry including associations, councils, material recovery facilities, plastic recyclers, and manufacturers.
Options for managing the impacts of aged heavy vehicles
Austroads has published a research report which analyses the impacts of an aging heavy vehicle fleet and explores measures that have been used to manage this challenge in Australasia and internationally.
Richard Delplace, Austroads Transport Network Operations Program Manager, says the oldest heavy vehicles impact the community in several ways, including air pollution, noise, and health but, until now, this issue has been hard to define and manage.
“Defining aged heavy vehicles by their emissions standard provides the clearest definition and will likely result in the greatest positive impact of any targeted actions,” Richard said.
Thursday, 27 May 2021, 1-2 pm AEST
The research team of Mark Gjerek, Nathan Gore-Brown and Alun Morgan will present the main findings of the study.
Economic values updated in the Pedestrian Facility Selection Tool
The Australasian Pedestrian Crossing Facility Selection Web Tool has been updated to include economic values adjusted to July 2020 from the NZTA Economic Evaluation Manual (EEM) economic update factors Table 12.2.
The changes are outlined in appendix E, Table E 1 of the tool's user guide.
The tool is designed to help Australian and New Zealand practitioners select the most appropriate type of pedestrian crossing based on walkability, safety and economic outcomes. It is Austroads' third most used tool after the Austroads Pavement Analysis Design Software and Safety Barrier Assessment Panel Digital Submission Portal.
240,000 Austroads publications downloaded
From July 2020 to March 2021, Austroads' guides, research and technical reports have been downloaded 239.4K times with Assessing Fitness to Drive downloaded most frequently.
Other most used publications include the Guide to Road Design Part 3: Geometric Design, Austroads Design Vehicles and Turning Path Templates, Guide to Road Design Part 6: Roadside Design, Safety and Barriers and the Guide to Pavement Technology Part 2: Pavement Structural Design.
Austroads webinars have been attended by almost 10,000 people with webinar recordings viewed more than 16,000 times. Austroads podcast Transport Research and Trends has passed the 10,000 downloads mark.
PIARC Asset Management committee meeting
Asset Management Technical Committee 3.3 held its third meeting in the 2020-2023 cycle of the World Road Association (PIARC) in March 2021.
The committee develops, implements and integrates an asset management framework based on ISO 55001 so that road organisations manage their performance, risks and costs more effectively and efficiently.
There is no charge for our webinars, but registration is essential. It will allow us to send you a link to the recording if you can’t make the live session.
Network Operations Planning – Case Studies and Capability Building | Register
Thursday, 22 April 2021, 1 pm AEST
Austroads has led a review to understand current practices around the use of Network Operations Plans (NOP) and produced an online Reference Material Toolkit. Join the session to learn about the findings of the review and how to use the toolkit to develop your NOP processes.
Austroads Technical Specifications for Roadworks and Bridgeworks | Register
Thursday, 6 May 2021, 1 pm AEST
This webinar will present 14 technical specifications developed by Austroads for its member agencies. These specifications are suitable for use with any general conditions of contract, including design and construct contracts.
Paving Our Ways | Register
Thursday, 13 May 2021, 1 pm AEST
This webinar will present a book “Paving Our Ways”, which references Austroads’ research and provides a comprehensive international history of the world’s pavements, running from the earliest human settlements to the present day.
An Overview of the New Guide to Road Design Parts 1 and 7 | Register
Tuesday 25 May 2021, 1 pm AEST
Register for this session to learn about the new Part 1: Objectives of Road Design and Part 7: New and Emerging Treatments of the Guide to Road Design and how they are linked to other Austroads guides as well as jurisdictional supplements.
Options for Managing the Impacts of Aged Heavy Vehicles | Register
Thursday 27 May 2021, 1 pm AEST
The oldest trucks are associated with higher environmental and health costs than newer trucks, yet these have been poorly quantified to date. Take part in this session to hear about the measures that have been used to manage the impacts of aged heavy vehicles in Australasia and internationally.
Development and Justification of Asset Preservation and Renewal: Report Overview | Register
Thursday 3 June 2021, 1 pm AEST
Join the session for an overview of a report Prolonging the Life of Road Assets Under Increasing Demand: A Framework and Tools for Informing the Development and Justification of Asset Preservation and Renewal.
Design and Construction Guidelines for the Delivery of Large Cantilever and Gantry Structures | Register
Tuesday, 8 June 2021, 1 pm AEST
There have been a number of incidents of structural failures of sign and high mast lighting structures across Australia and New Zealand. This session will equip you with the knowledge of best practice for design and construction of these structures.
Development and Justification of Asset Preservation and Renewal: Framework and Tools | Register
Wednesday, 9 June 2021, 1 pm AEST
This is a second session in a three-session series to present the findings of the Austroads report Prolonging the Life of Road Assets Under Increasing Demand: A Framework and Tools for Informing the Development and Justification of Asset Preservation and Renewal Tune in to hear about the framework, tools and case studies in detail, and how asset management practitioners can apply these in their day-to-day work.
Development and Justification of Asset Preservation and Renewals: Investment and Decision Making | Register
Friday, 18 June 2021, 1 pm AEST
The session is based on the Austroads report Prolonging the Life of Road Assets Under Increasing Demand: A Framework and Tools for Informing the Development and Justification of Asset Preservation and Renewal. Register for the session to learn about the economic and customer centred basis for justifying appropriate levels of investment in road asset preservation and renewal.
Next generation Asset Data Collection: Road Pavement Performance | Register
Tuesday, 22 June 2021, 1 pm AEST
Join this webinar for an overview of a research report on next generation data collection technologies for road pavement assets to understand the emerging technologies available, the cost-effectiveness of these technologies, and the implications of transitioning from existing to new approaches.
Recent webinar recordings
Revision of Austroads Guide to Road Tunnels Part 2: Planning, Design and Commissioning
Audience feedback: "I liked the quick overview of where to find pertinent topics in the revised guide, Systems Engineering explanation as well as precautionary measures, escape routes and apps that can be used in tunnels."
Engineering Guideline to Bridge Asset Management
Audience feedback: "I appreciated the holistic approach to bridge asset management that emphasised engineering, level of service and value rather than maintenance management. It helped to understand more about the factors that go into determining the asset life of a bridge."
Improved Traffic Management Guidance: On-Road Public Transport Priority Tool
Audience feedback: "Thanks so much for this work. The laying out of case studies and the connections to the M&P Framework are both invaluable and very relevant to our work."
Improved Traffic Management Guidance: Freeway Capacity Analysis
Audience feedback: "Good discussion around motorway weave capacity analysis, capacity free flow relationship theory and methodologies. I liked the different examples across the Australian states."
Effectiveness and Implementation of Raised Safety Platforms
Audience feedback: "Good to see the Safe System focus on a large source of severe trauma and the use of innovation to solve entrenched problems. Good information and helps me as a safety engineer to take to internal staff for engagement/education and be able to emphasise the positives."
BITRE research
BITRE's monthly bulletin contains current counts and summaries of road crash deaths and fatal road crashes in Australia. Data are sourced from the road traffic or police authorities in each jurisdiction.
You can also view monthly updated road safety statistics and an Australian Road Deaths Database.
Upcoming industry events
Event organisers are carefully reviewing their arrangements to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Please be aware that details may change at short notice.
Australasian Tunnelling Conference, Melbourne, 10-13 May 2021
2021 Roads Australia Transport Summit, Sydney, 17-18 June 2021
AITPM National Traffic and Transport Conference, Brisbane, 29-30 July 2021
AAPA 2021 International Flexible Pavements Symposium "Roads going full circle" (online), 3-5 August 2021
2021 Engineering, Innovation, and Technology Forum, Brisbane, 24-26 August 2021
MEGATRANS: Reimagining the supply chain, Melbourne, 8-10 September 2021
2021 Australasian Road Safety Conference, Melbourne, 28-30 September 2021
ADVI Summit, Sydney, 18-19 October 2021
IPWEA International Public Works Conference, Adelaide, 31 October-4 November 2021
ARRB Symposium "Integrated Mobility Impacts 2021", Melbourne, 17-19 November 2021
