Peak Australasian road and transport agency Austroads has released its 2014-2015 annual report, detailing the advances it has made toward delivering the Austroads Strategic Plan 2012-16.
During the report’s period, Austroads:
- Invested $9.5 million in roads related research including $3.8 million in infrastructure design and testing, $2 million in asset management, $1.7 million in road safety and $1.1 million in road network management
- Undertook work in 166 projects and completed 59 (20 more than last year)
- Published 77 reports and updates to the Austroads Guides (with 266,000 publications sold and downloaded)
- Hosted 340 practitioners at the Austroads Bridge Conference
- Enabled 100 million driver licence and vehicle registration database transactions via the National Exchange of Vehicle Data Information Service (NEVDIS).
With 2015 the plan’s penultimate year, Chief Executive Nick Koukoulas wrote in the report that late-running projects had been given priority, with 59 completed during 2014-2015.
However, Koukoulas said Austroads was still challenged by late-running projects.
“New reporting processes will help address this and we are already seeing a significant number of late running projects closed in 2015-16,” Koukoulas wrote.
The plan outlines eight key areas of focus for Austroads:
1. Asset Management – Assisting member agencies to provide the road network services the community needs at least long term cost
2. Road Safety – Assisting member agencies to reduce the impact of road trauma
3. Environmentally Sustainable Transport – Assisting member agencies to manage the delivery of infrastructure services and use of the road network in a more sustainable way
4. Productivity – Assisting member agencies to maximise the contribution that roads and related infrastructure make to the economy
5. Knowledge Sharing – Austroads will create improved distribution, sharing, learning and innovation to support decision making
6. Relationships – Austroads will build strong relationships with stakeholders in the transport sector and foster a collaborative approach across the sector
7. Leadership – Austroads will play a leadership role in the Australasian transport sector and be a major contributor to the national reform agenda
8. Customer Service – Assisting member agencies to identify and understand community needs and achieve social outcomes
IPWEA representatives Mick Savage and Craig Thew assist on the Austroads Assets Task Force. A strategic priority for the task force is harmonisation of road asset data across its member agencies – in November 2014, the task force was asked to assess the benefits that could flow from this.
The report states that:
“The resulting Business Case will assist Austroads to understand the benefits, costs and likely risks involved in the development of a metadata standard and taxonomy for harmonising road asset data for implementation across Australia and New Zealand.
“The estimated benefits range between $65 million and $133 million each year. It is estimated that the total cost to develop and implement harmonised road asset data standards will likely range between $6 million and $14 million each year.
“While these costs are relatively small when compared to the potential benefits, it is acknowledged that achieving agreement on harmonised standards will be a challenge. The business case and an implementation plan will be further developed in 2015-16.”
The full report can be viewed here.