Austroads: Transport Research and Trends

In this webinar, MACA Chief Executive Helen Lindner and Professor Julie Brown discuss an Austroads project for Australia and New Zealand investigating specialty harnesses and vests. These products are sometimes used by children and young people with disabilities and medical conditions when travelling in motor vehicles.

The project aimed to improve knowledge and understanding of why these products are used, how people are accessing them, their compatibility with different vehicle types, and their design and safety. In the webinar, the presenters outline the project aims, methodology, key findings, expert safety recommendations and next steps.

Pedestrian safety is a critical concern worldwide, and some countries have been particularly successful. Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Denmark have achieved 40-60 per cent reductions in pedestrian deaths over the last 20 years. Australia and New Zealand, however, lag and pedestrian safety is only marginally improving.

Achieving Australia and New Zealand’s vision for road safety, where no one is killed or seriously injured, will be challenging for pedestrian safety without a shift in our current approach. The Keeping People Safe When Walking: Stream 1 project found that comprehensive implementation of known interventions could reduce pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries in Australia and New Zealand by 70-90 per cent. 

The webinar covered:

• pedestrian safety risk priorities
• priorities to improve the data needed to support investment in pedestrian safety
• strategies and interventions to progress Vision Zero for pedestrian safety

The purpose of the update to Guide to Road Design Part 1: Objectives of Road Design is to outline a proposed recommendation of amendments to the design domain and design exception process sections. The need for updating these sections is consistent with increasing industry challenges in designing and constructing road infrastructure in constrained environments or other various contexts, which make it impractical or impossible to adopt design solutions traditionally deemed as acceptable or normal practice.

Across Australia and New Zealand, many jurisdictions have their own guidelines in place to assist designers and practitioners in developing context sensitive design solutions, which may require the introduction of elements which depart from the design standards. These guidelines include processes for analysing risk and identifying risk mitigation strategies and are generally similar between jurisdictions.

In developing a proposed guideline for inclusion into Part 1, a systematic methodology was developed, planned and implemented which consisted of a literature review and stakeholder engagement.

The National Training Framework for Temporary Traffic Management has been operational since January 2024 and has been implemented by South Australia, Victoria, Northern Territory and Tasmania. The Austroads Guide to Temporary Traffic Management (AGTTM) provides comprehensive guidance for the planning, design, and implementation of safe and efficient temporary traffic management practices in Australia and New Zealand. Substantial revisions have been made within AGTTM Part 8 relating to the national harmonisation of training associated with temporary traffic management. The purpose of updated content within AGTTM Part 8 is to bring the guide in line with National Harmonisation of Temporary Traffic Management, which includes the National Training Framework.

AGTTM Part 8 has been reviewed and updated to reflect Austroads members' agreed operational policy position on the Training Framework, RTO Approval Framework and Prequalification Scheme. These processes comply with a harmonised approach to work, health and safety requirements, and relevant training and educational requirements. Additional changes have been made to reflect industry best practices, clarify content, and address terminology consistently. This webinar was presented by Point8’s Rosie Toohey and Peter Bilton.

This webinar introduced the new Austroads Guidance for Cycling and Micromobility Planning, a resource for professionals seeking to deliver safer outcomes for all road users. The project aimed to deliver a consolidated and nationally consistent approach to cycling and micromobility planning and includes recommended changes to the Austroads Guide to Traffic Management.

The webinar shared the key themes that emerged from research and consultation. It introduced the three overarching recommendations of the Guidance: providing stronger links to best-practice cycle planning and design principles; recognising that considered terminology can help deliver projects; and updating the AGTM's scope to include wider micromobility options. Recommendations are supported with practical tools and strategies to facilitate better cycling and micromobility planning outcomes. The webinar was presented by Clare Huggins and James Laing, and moderated by Mary Haverland.

Australia’s freight industry is at a turning point. The transition to low and zero-emission heavy vehicles (ZEHVs) is critical to achieving net zero targets, but it presents significant challenges for road infrastructure. As these vehicles are often heavier than their diesel counterparts, they place additional strain on pavements and bridges—potentially increasing maintenance costs and accelerating road deterioration.

Australia has a long history of engineering cost-effective road networks, enabling an extensive transport system despite the country’s vast geography and relatively low population density. However, as transport emissions come under greater scrutiny, government and industry leaders must navigate complex trade-offs between sustainability, infrastructure resilience, and freight efficiency.

The report, Zero Emission Heavy Vehicles and Road Pavements: Comparing Australia and New Zealand to Europe and North America, explores these challenges and outlines potential pathways for government and industry to support the decarbonisation of heavy transport while ensuring Australia’s road network remains functional and cost-effective. 

Sprayed seals are a widely used, critical component of the road system in Australia and New Zealand, being the predominant type of sealed road surfacing in both countries. Traditional sprayed sealing practice sees a heavy reliance on non-renewable, virgin materials for the two major components, the bituminous binder, which is refined from crude oil, and aggregate, which is extracted from a quarry.

Austroads has recently completed a project to gather knowledge and increase the understandings about sprayed seal technologies and practices that can be used to improve their sustainability in terms of environmental impact. The project report has identified several opportunities that may be pursued to improve the sustainability of sprayed seals.

This webinar discussed the findings of the project and provided an overview of the report, which contains:

• a literature review, conducted to identify and evaluate new and emerging environmentally friendly, sustainable technologies and practices, and innovative materials and methods for sprayed seals
• a description of current sprayed seal materials and practice
• alternative approaches to binders (including additives, emulsions and bio-binders), aggregates and precoating, cutter oils, and construction equipment.

The session also focused on the lifespans of sprayed seals, impacts of climate change and an environmental life cycle analysis to review the impact of different sealing approaches. The webinar was presented by Steve Patrick and Robert Busuttil. There were question and answer opportunities during the session.

Road infrastructure investments are currently planned and prioritised under what could be considered a ‘top-down’ process. Road agencies are typically funded through budgetary processes whereby road funding needs are mostly weighed against other budget priorities. However, when a road is a lifeline route – where there are limited transportation alternatives –the external impacts and costs imposed on both users and non-users from this road becoming inaccessible can be very significant.

These impacts can be difficult to both measure and value and, because of this, lifeline routes may have been historically underfunded. This is pertinent with climate change meaning that road managers are increasingly encountering problems managing natural hazard events on lifeline routes.

In light of this, Austroads has updated their Lifeline Risk Indicator Tool and migrated it to the Austroads website as an online-enabled tool. This tool has two purposes. First is to identify lifeline freight routes and allow road managers to establish a lifeline route network. Second is to rank investments in lifeline routes in terms of economic and social impacts.

This webinar, presented by Ben Mason, Dr Stacy Rendall and Valentin Perez, stepped through the process undertaken to update the tool and a practical run through of how the web-based Lifeline Risk Indicator Tool can be used.

Climate change is causing irreversible damage to communities, the economy and the environment, and it is imperative that strong and sustained action is taken to limit its future impacts. Extreme weather events are projected to become more frequent and intense, increasing the vulnerability of transport network assets and the communities they serve. Climate change impacts the ability of transport networks to provide lifeline infrastructure services that are crucial to the distribution and continuous flow of goods and services essential for human livelihoods, the functioning of society and economic prosperity.

The physical impacts of climate change are a common threat to Austroads transport agencies, and these will only grow in frequency and intensity as the climate changes, causing wide-spread disruption to transport network’s ability to deliver the levels of service expected.

Effective and responsible asset management is crucial for agencies to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Such practices balance performance, cost, and risk over time to ensure that transport network needs are met while maximising return on investment and providing the required levels of service.

This webinar presented the outcomes of Austroads’ recent project that developed practical guidance for asset managers to embed consideration of climate resilience into their asset management processes.

The project identified a number of key issues and developed practical recommendations for each of them covering asset management systems and processes, the asset lifecycle, criticality and vulnerability assessments, valuation of climate resilience measures and asset information management. The guidance will equip asset managers with knowledge to improve their processes and achieve their asset management objectives.

The webinar was presented by Upeshika Heenetigala, Jesse Sounness and Qindong Li. There were question and answer opportunities during the session.