July 1 marks the commencement of the implementation of the new Austroads Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan sharpens the focus of Austroads in assisting its members in providing high quality services to the community through eight priority areas. These are: Leadership, Relationships, Knowledge Sharing, Customer Service, Asset Management, Productivity, Road Safety and Environmentally Sustainable Transport.
The current Austroads task forces and review panels will all be named task forces and common terms of reference will apply. The Capability task force will become a working group with specific terms of reference approved by the Board. Other working groups may be established at the discretion of the relevant program manager.
The current programs will continue but rotate between member organisations at the end of 2012-13 to promote the development of knowledge gained of national issues across member organisations. The intent is to have ownership of issues and Austroads work by all members. It is proposed that the allocation of programs to member organisations and the appointment of new program managers be determined in March 2013. The incoming program managers will then work on a handover with the outgoing program managers. The incoming program managers will take over full responsibility for their program from 1 July 2013 and continue until 30 June 2017.
To view the Austroads Strategic Plan 2012-2016 please click here.
In conjunction with the new Strategic Plan, a number of other initiatives are being introduced including a new Austroads Knowledge Sharing Strategy. This newsletter and its format is revamped, starting from this issue.
The Austroads newsletter will now include an article each issue, detailing the current work in one of its programs, along with World Road Association technical committee news and meeting updates, which will involve their work program, outputs and achievements. The usual information such as recent publications, news and events will still be included, but more detailed articles about high interest publications will be included. This new format will provide more information about Austroads and its publications giving more added value to subscribers of the newsletter.
Austroads Program overview Registration and Licensing Jane Fitzgerald
The Austroads Registration and Licensing program is continuing in its efforts to implement national policies which promote harmonisation, the closing of existing loopholes, improving social outputs and developing best practice frameworks. One of these key areas is Alternative Vehicles.
Alternative vehicles are an ever growing category of vehicles for which the current road rules and registration and licensingregulations do not necessarily fit. Present work in the alternative vehicle sphere is focusing on power assisted pedal cycles and adopting the European Standard which allows an increase to thepower output of these vehicles from 200 watts to 250 watts. Future projects aim to develop a policy framework and/or guideline applicable to mobility scooters and segways with potential to apply these to new and emerging mobility devices.
The Registration and Licensing program is also continuing work towards Indigenous licensing. Access to driver licensing for Indigenous persons is a key output in the new registration and licensing operational plan which cuts across a range of departments such as safety, local government, registration and licensing and families and communities. A pre-learner licensing tool kit has been developed for Indigenous persons to teach them the Australian road rules and enable them to undertake the learner theory test. Publication and implementation of the tool kit is the next step along with future projects focusing on the learner and provisional licensing phases to help Indigenous persons obtain the understanding and skills required to progress to a full drivers licence.
Overseas driver licences also continues to be a key topic on the registration and licensing agenda. Implementation of the new ‘experienced driver recognition’ category is underway along with on-going negotiations with various countries and provinces regarding recognition of Australian driver licences and the recording of overseas driver licence details on the National Exchange of Vehicle and Drvier Information System (NEVDIS). Future issues to be considered include the introduction of the new European Union driver licence in 2013 and the development of a framework to regulate temporary overseas visa holders.
NEVDIS is continuing in its efforts to serve the jurisdictions and enhance services. The Personal Properties Security Register went live on 31 January 2012, providing a much needed service. In the future NEVDIS will focus on the NEVDIS Strategic Direction Review, access to NEVDIS data strategy, and a review of the NEVDIS Participation Agreement.
New WRA technical committee cycle
The new cycle for World Road Association (WRA) technical Committees commenced in April 2012. There are seventeen technical committees in the new cycle and Austroads is actively involved with a full or corresponding member on fifteen committes. Australia and New Zealand are both national members of the WRA. Austroads coordinates their involvement and acts as the WRA’s national committee for Australia and New Zealand.
To improve the communication links and provide an active facility for feeding into the Austroads research and the development of the Austroads guides, each of the WRA’s technical committees have been aligned with an Austroads program.
The Australian and New Zealand representatives on the new WRA technical committees and their contact details are found on the Austroads website in the international section. As the representatives attend meetings they provide reports which are circulated to members of the Association and relevant Austroads task force members. These reports can also be found in the international section of the website.
As part of the new format newsletter, a report of the work of an individual technical committee will be included in subsequent newsletters.
FEATURE PUBLICATIONS
Development of Non Linear Finite Element Pavement Response to Load (AP-T199-12)
This report presents improvements implemented for pavement response to load models performed during the Austroads project Developments of Pavement Design Models.
There is a large diversity of local materials and significant demand for using alternative source materials such as recycled or modified materials. In that context, there is a need to consider each material characteristic in pavement models to better evaluate the critical strains and performance relationships for pavement design.
Austroads Guide to Pavement Technology: Part 2 – Pavement Structural Design does not assess the modulus of individual granular materials. Some allowance is currently made for the variation in modulus as the stresses change with depth below the surface, i.e. the Austroads sublayering rules, but the variation in granular moduli horizontally cannot be provided for in linear elastic modelling. This limits the ability of the current Austroads model to predict accurate responses for granular pavements.
To obtain a better representation of granular behaviour in pavement response, a finite element program has been developed integrating nonlinear behaviour of granular materials. The Universal model (Uzan 1992) was adopted to take into account the effect of both confining and shear stresses on unbound granular material resilient modulus. The resulting finite element software is called APADS. There is no theoretical or technical restriction in using a 3D model, but to keep the calculation time in a realistic range for pavement routine design, a 2D axisymmetrical model was adopted at this stage. Superposition technique has been used to calculate the response under the multiple tyres of a standard axle, after having assessed the technique by comparison with a 3D model. The numerical validation of APADS is presented comparing calculated responses with independent data for typical pavements. The material’s shear stress envelope was also included in the pavement model, to indicate potential risks of shear failure in critical conditions.
Bridge Design Guidelines for Earthquakes (AP-T200-12)
The performance of bridges during and after earthquake events is critical in ensuring that road networks remain operational and importantly provide access for emergency services. The report investigated current Australian and international seismic design practices and formulates new force-based and displacement-based code provisions for the design of bridges to earthquake loads suitable for inclusion in current Australian design codes.
In Australia, bridges are designed to prevent collapse while allowing some damage to be sustained. The level of damage depends on the function and importance of the structure as determined by a number of Australian Standards. It is important to ensure that bridge design standards in Australia are kept up to date and reflect world best practice.
One of the key outcomes based on the findings of the report are recommended changes, with specific clause wordings to AS 5100.2:2004 Bridge design – Part 2. Design loads, to ensure compatibility with AS 1170.4:2007 Minimum design loads on structures – Part 4: Earthquake loads. Another key outcome is the development of an alternative displacement-based design method suitable for inclusion in AS 5100.2, presented in the form of recommended code clauses. Design examples illustrating the use of this method are provided for typical bridge configurations.
The key outcomes of this report not only ensure national consistency in bridge design for earthquakes in Australia but also provide bridge design practitioners with extensive background information and an alternative design methodology in line with world best practice.
Free Austroads guides for educational institutions
Austroads is offering copies of relevant guides in PDF format free of charge to university and other tertiary education institution libraries in relation to specific courses conducted by that institution. This is for educational institutes across Australia and New Zealand. The PDF files of guides will be watermarked with the name of the university and for educational purposes only.
This will assist in the wider spread dissemination of the Austroads guides and knowledge through educational avenues and strength the ability of institutions to structure their curriculum around best practice methods employed by road agencies.
For further information about this offer please email
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Latest Austroads Publications
Accessing Austroads publications
Austroads technical and research reports are available free as PDFs from the Austroads website www.austroads.com.au. Please sign up for RoadWatch to be alerted of all Austroads publications as they become available.
15/05/2012
The Scoping and Development of Probablistic Road Deterioration (RD) Models (AP-T201-12)
This report is a scoping document aimed at establishing how road deterioration (RD) models can be developed on a probabilistic basis. RD model development can be aimed at providing models for pavement condition indices and pavement condition measures (roughness, rutting, cracking, etc.) from data currently available in the LTPP/LTPPM database and other sources of performance data where the LTPP/LTPPM data is inadequate.
The report also considers the applicability of probabilistic RD model approaches to both a network and project level. A previous survey of practitioners, aimed at finding what type of RD models they wish to use in a pavement life-cycle costing context at a project level, found that most practitioners would consider using both probabilistic and deterministic RD models.
14/05/2012
Austroads LTPP and LTPPM Study - Summary Report 2010-11 (AP-T203-12)
Long term monitoring of in service pavements helps to understand pavement behaviour and enhances the prediction of pavement performance, which is a key element to building and maintaining a cost effective road network. The objectives of the Australian Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) study are to assist in the development of nationally consistent pavement performance models for use at both the network and project level through the monitoring of the performance of full scale in service pavements; to assess the influence of maintenance activities on long term pavement performance; to compare the results of accelerated loading on test pavements with the performance of actual road pavements.
30/05/2012
Measurement and Analysis of Dynamic Wheel Loads (AP-R406-12)
This report explores the dynamic forces that heavy vehicles apply to road pavements and the effects that these forces have on pavement performance. The research focussed on identification of accurate and cost effective means to quantify dynamic forces applied by current and new generation heavy vehicle trailers. The traditional method of using axle mounted strain gauges with accelerometers was found to be more cost effective, accurate and practical compared to the alternative measurement methods trialled.
Data collected during the field trials is available and may be suitable for further analysis to continue investigations into the relationships between dynamic wheel loads and vehicle or road characteristics. However, for most of the relationships of interest, a wider sample of vehicles and roads is required to establish sufficient evidence of the nature of the relationships. In particular, it may be of interest to further investigate differences between mechanical- and air-suspended combinations.
Assessing Fitness to Drive 2012 - download or purchase hard copy online
Austroads and the National Transport Commission have released the updated medical standards for assessing private and commercial vehicle drivers’ fitness to drive safely. Assessing Fitness to Drive contains medical standards to provide guidance to health professionals and driver licensing bodies on the health assessment of private and commercial drivers of heavy vehicles, light vehicles and motorbikes.
Assessing Fitness to Drive can be downloaded in electronic format for free or a hard copy can be purchased for a nominal fee on the Austroads website along with additional supporting information.
Austroads Publications Feedback
If you would like to provide feedback on any Austroads publications you can do this by clicking here.
Mapping previous Austroads publications to the new
The current Austroads guides supersede a number of previous Austroads publications including the Guide to Traffic Engineering Practice series. If you want to find the current equivalent of an earlier publication, a table has been developed that cross references the earlier publications with the new publication that replaces it. Please click here or visit the Austroads website.
Comprehensive Austroads publications list
A complete and regularly updated publications list is provided by Austroads. This contains all the guides, as well as all the free publications that are available for purchase or download through the website. All prices are listed as well as dates of when publications were released so you can keep up to date with the latest. Please click here to view the Austroads publications list.
2012 Australasian College of Road Safety National Conference - Registration Now Open
The 2012 Australasian College of Road Safety national conference will be held at The Menzies Sydney Hotel on 9 and 10 August. The conference aims to take road safety to the next level of knowledge and implementation and to assist in the translation of research into action in keeping with the Safe System and Decade of Action for Road Safety. The conference allows for direct interaction with presenters and is an important opportunity to network with senior practitioners and those with policy responsibilities in Australasia.
More information can be found here, while registration information.
25th ARRB Conference - Registration now open
ARRB Group is holding their 25th Conference at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Perth on 23 – 26 September 2102. The theme for the Conference is Shaping the Future: Linking research, policy and outcomes. The 25th ARRB Conference will aim to bring together more than 500 road and transport industry professionals.
Early bird closes Friday 17 August 2012. Click here for further information.
Alternative vehicles are an ever growing category of vehicles for which the current road rules and registration and licensingregulations do not necessarily fit. Present work in the alternative vehicle sphere is focusing on power assisted pedal cycles and adopting the European Standard which allows an increase to thepower output of these vehicles from 200 watts to 250 watts. Future projects aim to develop a policy framework and/or guideline applicable to mobility scooters and segways with potential to apply these to new and emerging mobility devices. 
Austroads Guide to Pavement Technology: Part 2 – Pavement Structural Design does not assess the modulus of individual granular materials. Some allowance is currently made for the variation in modulus as the stresses change with depth below the surface, i.e. the Austroads sublayering rules, but the variation in granular moduli horizontally cannot be provided for in linear elastic modelling. This limits the ability of the current Austroads model to predict accurate responses for granular pavements. 
