Austroads: Transport Research and Trends

Austroads is undertaking a multi-stage project to support road transport and traffic agencies across Australia to manage the impacts of third-party assets on the successful delivery of road infrastructure projects, including road projects with a rail interface. To form an effective, evidence-based strategy and action plan, the project included international literature research, jurisdictional consultation and four road infrastructure project case studies.

This webinar with Robert Eames, Nicola Boyd, David Bourne and Maria Drysdale presents the research findings and where change is required to improve the efficient delivery of major infrastructure projects when third-party assets are involved. One key element proposed is a national minimum dataset of information to monitor third-party impacts on road infrastructure projects.

The collection and reporting of high-quality data is essential but depends on stakeholders sharing cost information so that value-based decisions can be made across the whole project. Measurement of costs associated with utilities on projects will permit analysis of past events which will lead to two beneficial outcomes:

• Understanding events and determining patterns will enable predictions of the future to be made.
• Quantitative evaluation of past project events will allow plans for improvement to be developed.

Austroads has completed its project APT6305 Use of Road-grade Recycled Plastics for Sustainable Asphalt Pavements which was investigating road-grade recycled plastics that can be used to construct and maintain asphalt roads.

The project results are provided in four reports:

The first report examined the use of road-grade recycled plastics in asphalt pavements and investigated the most suitable types of recycled plastics for incorporation into asphalt.

The second report provided a comprehensive overview of the development of various testing frameworks for the characterisation of road-grade recycled plastic, the incorporation of recycled plastics in bitumen and asphalt and the study of possible emissions and microplastics release.

Report 3 Part A presented the results of the experimental investigation on recycled plastics in asphalt and bitumen by focusing on the asphalt and bitumen properties, microplastics and emissions. The report focused on the wet and dry method of incorporation of plastics into asphalt.

This 75-minute webinar focuses on Part B of the third report outlining the mixed methods (i.e., low melting point plastics as additive to modify asphalt) performance and environmental assessment and expanding on the recyclability of reclaimed plastic-modified asphalt.

The webinar was presented by Andrew Papacostas from Department of Transport Victoria, Associate Professor Filippo Giustozzi from RMIT University and his team, including Dr Marie Enfrin, Yeong Jia Boom, and Dr Dai Lu Xuan.

The operation of smart motorways is a subset of broader transport operations and relies on complex organisational arrangements with highly specialised capabilities to manage a growing number of assets, follow a wide range of operational scenarios, coordinate with multiple stakeholders, and continuously adapt to new technologies and systems. This increasing complexity places pressure on traffic management centre (TMC) managers and their operational staff who are responsible for delivering motorway safety and efficiency objectives.

As such transport agencies continually seek to improve the way smart motorways operational capabilities are managed, developed and adapted to minimise disruption for customers through best practice operational planning, project integration, live network monitoring, traveller communications and traffic management.

In response Austroads has prepared a research report looking into emerging and new trends to inform potential future directions for TMCs across Australia and New Zealand. Guidelines have also been developed for road-focused agencies to help classify their operating characteristics, define a national capability framework for the operational environment, and showcase good practice integration of new projects and enhanced smart motorways schemes.

This webinar, presented by David Yee, Simon Gough and Joanne Deng, provides an overview of the future trends, research findings and agency guidance. The research into future trends helped to identify different motorway operational methods and practices as well as operational principles that underpin an agency’s smart motorway capabilities. These smart motorway capabilities include TMC business management, live motorway operations, motorway operational planning and optimisation, motorway projects integration as well as use of intelligence tools and devices to inform decision making.

The webinar also offers advice on how to support improving smart motorway capabilities using a Smart Motorway Classification Model and Capability Framework. The capabilities are the foundational abilities that should be developed. The Capability Maturity Model is a maturity scale for smart motorway capabilities that can be used by agencies to set future targets and to measure against. The guidance advises how to use the Capability Maturity Model to plan and improve smart motorway capabilities and projects integration work.

Movement and Place is a multi-disciplinary, place-based approach to the planning, design, delivery and operation of transport networks. It broadens our thinking about our roads and streets beyond their functional role in supporting movement - they are also places for people to live, work and spend time.

It is part of an international shift towards embracing the importance of people, and place when designing, planning or operating streets and roads. It recognises the complementary relationships between place and movement and matching the road or street to its desired function within the wider network.

This webinar, presented by Arjan Rensen, Ben Cebuliak and Gareth Collins, provides an overview of the whole-of-government NSW Movement and Place Framework and how it supports Austroads Guidance, Australian Standards and the Global Street Design Guidelines as they apply in different contexts across NSW. The Framework invites practitioners to take collaborative, spatial and vision-led approaches and offers a common language and process of collaboration to support meaningful discussions across all levels of government, industry, and communities.

Internal combustion engine vehicles are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia and New Zealand. Encouraging the public to utilise low and zero emission vehicles (LZEVs), such as battery electric vehicles will contribute to creating a more sustainable road transport system.

As the number of LZEVs is expected to rise, there will be a growing demand for charging infrastructure. Increasing availability of such infrastructure will also encourage the uptake of LZEVs; however, currently there is little guidance available to road agencies to assist them in managing the installation of charging infrastructure within road reserves.

This webinar with David Silvester and Norman Cheung presents new Austroads guidance to help agencies manage the planning, installation, and operation of charging infrastructure for non-commercial passenger vehicles with battery-electric or hybrid propulsion within the road reserve or road related areas.

The guidelines draw on the latest international and national experience and case studies and can be used by agencies in the implementation of consistent charging facility practices to reduce costs, improve the road environment, road safety, network operations, and LZEV driver experience.

The webinar covers guidance on managing the life cycle of the facilities, including planning, design, operations, interoperability, maintenance, and decommissioning.

To enable collaboration and the adoption of best-practice approaches across jurisdictions, Austroads is undertaking a multi-stage project to standardise and automate ways of recording and sharing road asset information.

The benefits of standardised collection of road asset data and the availability of a platform to store or exchange data include:

• direct savings to road agencies through reduced information management costs, including the opportunity to sustain an open and competitive market of data collectors
• reducing the time needed to train new staff and contractors
• facilitating better decision making on road investment and expenditure through consistent asset data
• facilitating the implementation of national reforms, including Heavy Vehicle Road Reform and automated vehicle reform
• providing consistent asset data to accommodate innovative technology in the road sector (e.g., LIDAR technology, building information modelling (BIM), and digital twinning).

This webinar, presented by Chris Koniditsiotis, Angus Draheim, Tom Magarey, David Deacon and Geoffrey Paton, presents an overview of the implementation of the Austroads Road Asset Data Standard and demonstrates a knowledge sharing platform that is being developed for road managers to use to report activities, collaborate and share insights.

The proposed National Access Framework for Heavy Vehicles is a principles-based strategic policy document which highlights the role of state and local government road managers in managing heavy vehicles access on the road network. It is also proposed to establish a national Access Working Group to deliver a targeted national Access Work Program based on the Framework's principles.

In this session, presenters – Pascal Felix, Stuart Maxwell and Sanjiv Sathiah, talk about the elements of the framework and how they will potentially benefit state and local road managers and industry.

Road agencies are increasingly utilising various business intelligence tools to collect, process and analyse large amounts of asset management data from internal and external systems. Harnessed information is used to maintain road assets and improve the efficiency of their performance.

In this webinar data practitioners from the Tasmanian Department of State Growth, Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads and Main Roads Western Australia talk about their experience in using digital data analytics tools for improving the accessibility and visualisation of data in road asset management.

Norah Weatherby’s presentation focuses on the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads’ asset information systems and analytics platforms that are critical to supporting Queensland’s road network.

David Deacon shares how the Tasmanian Department of State Growth’ Roads Asset Management Branch works with data to enable effective decision-making, break down silos and connect people.

Shaan Ciantar, from Main Roads Western Australia, talks about Power BI’s Pavelytics, an interactive app that displays relevant data to asset and maintenance managers on selected road sections. Shaan’s presentation goes through the need for such an app, how it was scoped for maximum usability, the data-design process, and finally a demonstration of the app in use.

Nicholas Archer presents a novel approach to mapping road data for Main Roads Western Australia using a custom Power BI visual and web service.

Road agencies increasingly recognise the value of coordination and cooperation with public transport operators in responding to road and transport incidents, as it helps support a more holistic and integrated multimodal approach to minimising traveller disruption.

Austroads has developed guidance for road-focused agencies to improve their capabilities in the management and resolution of an unplanned incident that negatively impacts, or has the potential to impact, the normal operation of more than one transport mode.

This webinar, presented by David Yee and Andrew Somers, provides an overview of the multimodal incident management (MMIM) research findings and agency guidance. The guidance examines worldwide MMIM methods and practices, and identifies key themes and principles for agencies to consider in planning and developing their MMIM capabilities. These themes include vision and strategy for MMIM, coordination and cooperation, integrated operations centres, leverage existing practices, integrated traveller information, traveller demand management and network load balancing, alternative transport services, multimodal data exchange, MMIM tools, and intelligence and decision making.

The webinar also offers advice on how to improve MMIM capabilities using a MMIM Capability Framework that consists of three components:

• a set of MMIM capabilities
• a MMIM Capability Maturity Model
• guidance

The capabilities are the foundational abilities that should be developed. The Capability Maturity Model is a maturity scale for MMIM capabilities that can be used by agencies to set future targets and to measure against. The guidance advises how to use the Capability Maturity Model to plan and improve MMIM capabilities.

Austroads is encouraging drivers, employers and trainers to have their say on proposed changes to heavy vehicle driver licensing in Australia.

The changes are documented in a Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (C-RIS) which seeks feedback on proposed changes to the National Heavy Vehicle Driver Competency Framework. The Framework was endorsed by ministers in 2011 but has only been implemented in four states and territories.

At the request of transport ministers, Austroads has been undertaking an extensive program of work to review and improve the NHVDCF. 
Austroads’ review aims to deliver a harmonised Australian licence training and assessment framework that produces safe and competent heavy vehicle drivers and reflects the current and future needs of heavy vehicle operators and the future freight task.

Visit austroads.info/c-ris to download the C-RIS, access fact sheets and videos summarising the proposals and provide feedback.