Austroads: Transport Research and Trends

The freight industry is critical to the economy, and for many sectors it is heavy vehicles that underpin freight movements and prosperity. The average age of trucks in Australia and New Zealand is among the highest in the developed world. The oldest trucks are associated with higher environmental and health costs than newer trucks, yet these have been poorly quantified to date. Managing these issu...

Austroads has recently completed a project to consolidate the previous Guide to Road Design Part 1: Introduction to Road Design, Part 2: Design Considerations and Part 8: Process and Documentation into a new Part 1: Objectives of Road Design. This 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 c...

This webinar presents 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. No previous book has covered such a broad canvass. The book is written for general and technically oriented readers, tracing the human and social aspects of pavement developm...

Currently, most Austroads member agencies rely on their unique technical specifications for the delivery of roadworks and bridge projects. In many cases, these specifications have been developed over a number of years in consultation with local industry and suppliers. While it is recognised that there will always be some requirements that will only apply to a single jurisdiction, standardising spe...

Network operation planning aims to guide the day-to-day operation and development of the road network. These management activities are regularly completed and documented through the development of Network Operation Plans (NOPs), which link policy objectives while managing competing transport and land use priorities. This intent of NOPs is generally agreed, but the way and level of application vari...

This webinar, presented by Les Louis, Lauren Thompson and Dr Richard Yeo, informs practitioners about the updates made to  Part 2 of the Guide to Road Tunnels  in 2021 and the reasons for those changes. Every section of Part 2 is addressed to show what changes have been made. More detail is provided about the new sections of the document, highlighting the most significant material added to the doc...

The Engineering Guideline to Bridge Asset Management was developed to provide specific asset management guidance for road bridges. The guideline promotes an engineering approach (engineering principles, knowledge, experience and modelling tools) as being the only robust method for understanding the current and future, condition and needs of a bridge network. The guideline defines best practice ass...

On-road public transport (ORPT) priority treatments improve public transport’s level of service increasing reliability and travel time benefits for users. Austroads has developed a practical process (referred to as a ‘tool’) to guide practitioners through the selection of the appropriate ORPT priority treatments for any road scenario. The tool is documented in the 2020 Austroads report AP-R645-20...

Austroads’ report Improved Traffic Management Guidance: Freeway Capacity Analysis reviews the latest research and practices in freeway capacity analysis and makes recommendations for updating Austroads FCA guidance. This webinar with Paul Bennett and Graham McCabe presents the research and findings outlined in the report, including the consultations with practitioners from across Australia and New...

Raised Safety Platforms (RSPs) are a vertical deflection device increasingly used to reduce the maximum comfortable operating speed for vehicles to Safe System collision speeds, particularly at intersections. While the use of vertical deflection devices has typically been limited to lower speed environments, there is increasing interest in the use of RSPs in higher speed environments and for other...

This webinar, presented by Ann-Marie Head and Jeanette Ward, focuses on the planning and design considerations for walkable residential neighbourhoods, both new and existing, and where to find that guidance in Austroads’ guides. The webinar covers the following key topics: what data to collect planning/network considerations design considerations examples of applying walkable characteristics best...

‘What gets measured gets managed’ (Drucker, 1954). Performance metrics, indicators and benchmarks describe how our road assets (and transport systems) are functioning and operating within the context of the road users’ (and societal) expectations. This enables agencies and authorities to manage investment and resources to address the areas of greatest need. Austroads first developed National Perfo...

This webinar, presented by Richard Fanning, Noel O’Callaghan and Madeleine Bekavac, is about the guidance on road cross-section design for road stereotypes, which have been developed to assist road managers, planners and designers to achieve improved road safety outcomes through the application of consistent standards along a road corridor.   Practitioners will learn about the thirteen midblock ro...

This webinar, presented by Ann-Marie Head and Jeanette Ward,  focuses on the planning and design considerations that contribute to walkable activity centres - vibrant places where people shop, work, meet, relax and often live. The session also explains where this information can be found in Austroads’ guides. The webinar covers the following key topics: what data to collect planning/network consid...

This webinar presents how to ensure intersections are planned and designed appropriately for pedestrians, and where to find that guidance in Austroads’ guides. The webinar covers the following key topics: what data to collect types and how they impact pedestrians selection process design of each type to improve walking outcomes best practice examples. Presented by Ann-Marie Head and Jeanette Ward....

This webinar, presented by Ann-Marie Head and Jeanette Ward, focuses on how to ensure pedestrian crossings are planned and designed appropriately, and where to find that guidance in Austroads’ guides. The webinar covers the following key topics: what data to collect types, description and appropriate context selection process design details for each type best practice examples. This session is the...

A transition in a safety barrier system is a short section between a more flexible system and a less flexible system to decrease the flexibility gradually along its length. At present there are various transition designs being used by road agencies. This webinar describes the development, testing and evaluation of a proposed Australasian transition from a strong post public domain W-beam to a conc...

Austroads’ review of the pedestrian planning and design guidance in the Guide to Traffic Management (AGTM) and Guide to Road Design (AGRD) identified a total of 120 planning and design gaps. Recommended changes to the AGTM were published in April 2020 followed by a series of exceptionally popular webinars. Recommended changes to the AGRD have been reviewed and approved by the Road Design Task Forc...

An Austroads study of Australian and New Zealand roads capability (AP-R574-18) identified capability/learning gaps amongst graduates and novice practitioners in traffic management. The 2018 study also confirmed that road agencies are experiencing skill shortages and the existing roads workforce will be under threat from rising activity in other sectors. To address this recognised lack of traffic m...

The addition of a small amount of cementitious binder to non-standard granular materials may result in a fit for purpose base or subbase at a significantly lower cost than crushed rock complying with standard specifications. Such lightly bound cemented (LBC) materials have particular use in pavement rehabilitation and heavy patching as they are less susceptible to block cracking and crocodile crac...

Austroads has recently completed a project to review and propose improvements to the guidance on interrupted traffic flow theory contained within the Austroads Guide to Traffic Management (AGTM), Part 2 and Part 3. The updates will broaden practitioners’ understanding of interrupted traffic flow theory and enable them to manage congestion on road networks more effectively. This webinar, presented...

The freight industry is critical to the Australian and New Zealand economies. It comprises road, rail, sea and air transportation including supporting services such as warehousing, storage, freight forwarding and customs brokerage for both domestic and international trade. As the freight task grows and perceptions of its impact increases, governments face increased community pressure that can lead...

Flexible granular pavements protected by sprayed seal surfacings are the backbone of the Australian and New Zealand road networks. Road agencies in Australia and New Zealand have therefore been focused on producing quality, long-lasting sprayed seal surfacings. Such efforts include conducting research into bituminous binders as a key component of sprayed seals. A landmark achievement in this area...

Introducing automated vehicles could dramatically impact the Australian and New Zealand travelling public’s driving experience and the industry’s approach to road safety and road design. This journey will undoubtedly take many years and considerable efforts in partnerships, testing, certification, design and legislation. A growing range of vehicles already available in the market offer automated-s...

Currently road authorities rely on multiple different decision making-frameworks to help identify investment opportunities for the road network. The framework used often varies depending on the nature of the expenditure. For example, cost benefit analysis is commonly used to assess large capital upgrades and risk assessments are commonly used to identify bridges that need treatment. The outputs pr...