Corporate

The annual report provides a detailed review of the strategic focus of each Austroads Program as well as the projects completed and progressed during the year.

At a glance, in 2016-17 Austroads:

• invested $12.4m in our roads related research work program, contracting 40 organisations to deliver our work program including $6.9m in infrastructure design and testing, $3.6m in road safety, $1.6m in road network management and $200K in connected and automated vehicles
• undertook work in 125 projects, completing 46 during the year
• published 226 reports, papers and updates to the Austroads Guides (with 340,000 publications sold and downloaded)
• enabled 135m driver licence and vehicle registration database transactions via the National Exchange of Vehicle Data Information Service (NEVDIS).

Significant achievements include:

• Delivery of the first Data Standard for Road Management and Investment, which is being developed to provide Australian and New Zealand road agencies and their suppliers with a common approach to the specification of operational data.
• Publication with Standards Australia of the highly anticipated seven part Standard AS(/NZS) 5100:2017 Bridge Design published in March.
• Publication of the Congestion and Reliability Review which measures the levels and identifies the key causes of congestion across major cities in Australia and New Zealand.
• Finalisation of projects which reviewed the funding and financing arrangements for regional and remote roads in Australia and the application of community service obligations to the roads sector
• Delivery of 13 two-day Safe System Infrastructure workshops across Australia and New Zealand.
• Development of a library of modern hazard perception test videos using computer-generated imagery. The project will allow jurisdictions to introduce a hazard perception test specifically designed for motorcyclists, a world first road safety initiative.
• Publication of an updated edition of Assessing Fitness to Drive , a joint publication of the National Transport Commission and Austroads, and includes standards for private and commercial drivers of heavy vehicles, light vehicles and motor bikes (more than 90,000 copies downloaded).
• Publication of Guidelines for Trials of Automated Vehicles in Australia , a joint publication of the National Transport Commission and Austroads, support state and territory road agencies in providing exemptions or permits for trials, and give greater certainty to industry.
• Finalisation of an investigation into the potential changes needed to the way road networks are managed to consistently support and optimise the outcomes from the introduction of automated vehicles.