Austroads: Transport Research and Trends

What does it take to create safer, healthier and more sustainable journeys to school? Join Austroads, Parkdale Primary School and the City of Kingston for a practical discussion on turning travel to school guidance into real-world outcomes. Drawing on a successful partnership in south-east Melbourne, this webinar explores how schools and local governments can work together to improve safety, support active travel, reduce congestion and build community support for change. Presenters shared lessons on stakeholder engagement, behaviour change initiatives, infrastructure planning and delivery, and the challenges encountered along the way. Attendees leave with practical insights and transferable lessons that can help improve travel to school outcomes in their own communities. This webinar is presented by Alex Reid, Tracy Richards and Tara Watson.

Over-height vehicle incidents continue to present safety, operational and asset protection risks in tunnel environments across Australia and New Zealand. Even when a vehicle is stopped before entering a tunnel, its safe removal can cause significant network disruption. This webinar presented findings from the Austroads research report Managing Over-height Vehicles in Tunnels. It examined how vehicles already on the road network and at risk of entering managed tunnels are addressed across the prevention, mitigation, response and recovery stages. The research draws on literature, stakeholder engagement, a review of selected Australian and New Zealand tunnels, and Australian, New Zealand and international case studies. The session highlighted opportunities to improve early detection, driver communication, time and distance for safe diversion, system integration and coordinated incident response. It also discussed improving incident data, assessing improvements to legacy tunnels and strengthening Austroads guidance. The webinar recording is suited to road authorities, tunnel operators, transport practitioners, ITS specialists, freight representatives and incident response professionals. This webinar was presented by Chris Adams, Shifani Sood and Tom Betts.

Design, traffic management and road safety are critical to achieving safe, efficient and context-responsive transport. Road design, traffic management and road safety practitioners often work towards the same outcomes, but they see things differently. This webinar helps these practitioners contribute to an integrated and unified approach to transport facility planning, design, implementation and operation. The webinar draws on the Austroads Guides to Road Design (AGRD), Traffic Management (AGTM) and Road Safety (AGRS), and a new publication from Austroads (Coordinated Use of Austroads Guides to Support Safe and Efficient Road Networks) to demonstrate their interconnectedness. Most users are familiar with only one or two of these Guides; however, all three are mutually supportive and interdependent. The complementary disciplines should be involved from strategic planning through to operation and renewal, as illustrated by a staged framework. The webinar covers core concepts, including Movement and Place, Level of Service, the Safe System approach, safe mobility, Context-sensitive design and design domains. An understanding of these concepts among practitioners across the three disciplines will support integrated teams in using the 3 Austroads Guides (AGRD, AGTM, AGRS) together, rather than disciplines working in isolation and passing problems from one group to another. This will improve outcomes when designing, operating, and managing the transport system for the various user types and capabilities.

The Austroads Guide to Temporary Traffic Management (https://austroads.gov.au/publications/temporary-traffic-management/agttm-set) (AGTTM) provides nationally consistent guidance for the planning, design, and implementation of safe and efficient temporary traffic management across Australia and New Zealand. Traffic Controllers (TCs) and Traffic Management Implementers (TMIs) play a vital role in the implementation of the temporary traffic management system. They are exposed to significant risks in their work to ensure the safety of road workers and the public. This webinar recording is aimed at TCs, TMIs and those involved in the on-site delivery of temporary traffic management, including team leaders and supervisors who oversee field implementation. The webinar was designed to improve understanding of the principles and requirements of the AGTTM and to summarise relevant recent updates and their application to TC and TMI. Rosie Toohey and Liam Dwyer from Point8 presented the session on behalf of Austroads.

Transport networks across Australia and New Zealand are increasingly experiencing disruption and damage from extreme weather, natural hazards and long-term climate change. While the transport sector’s preparedness for and response to these impacts is improving, organisations continue to face challenges in demonstrating the value of proactive investment in resilience. This webinar presented findings from a new Austroads research report showcasing: a structured 6-step process to support transport agencies in practically measuring resilience to climate- and natural-hazards an accompanying register that provides a set of potential metrics, designed to help users prioritise those that best suit their objectives, context and capability. These resources were developed through a targeted literature review, industry engagement, and pilot testing with selected Austroads members. Attendees learnt how these resources can support consistent measurement of resilience performance. The webinar also outlined their potential applications for resilience planning, performance monitoring and investment prioritisation. This webinar was presented by Kieran Power, Shannon Regan and Aidan McGann.

Climate change is placing increasing pressure on transport infrastructure across Australia and New Zealand, creating growing challenges for asset owners and network managers. This webinar introduced the findings of an Austroads report, Identifying and Prioritising Climate Adaption Actions for Transport Assets, which addresses a key challenge for Austroads members: translating climate risk and resilience objectives into prioritised adaptation initiatives to support investment decision-making. The session showcased the new Adaptation Action Prioritisation Methodology (AAPM), developed to help Austroads member agencies: identify suitable and effective adaptation actions for transport assets assess and compare adaptation options understand trade-offs between cost, risk reduction and broader outcomes prioritise investments and adaptation planning increase consistency in how adaptation measures are assessed and evaluated. Attendees also gained insights into two integrated resources developed to support implementation of the AAPM: the Library of Adaptation Actions, which includes over 60 good practice adaptation measures for road assets a set of parameter values to quantify the impacts related to climate hazards and adaptation measures. Watch the recording to learn how these new tools can help integrate climate resilience into transport planning and investment decisions, build stronger business cases for adaptation, and deliver better value-for-money outcomes in a changing climate. This webinar was presented by Lorena Garcia, Aidan McGann, and Cameron Ades.

Bituminous binders that are used to construct roads are tested prior to use to ensure they will perform satisfactorily during a road’s lifecycle. Standards Australia Committee CH-025 ‘Bitumen and related products for roadmaking’ is responsible for the revision of 4 national specification documents and 26 test methods which are used to characterise bituminous materials used in road construction. Austroads has also published 14 test methods that are used to characterise bituminous materials. This webinar presents the outcomes of Austroads Project APT6256 which provided expert technical input into the revision of 3 national specification documents (AS 2008, AS 2157 and AS 1160) and 1 Austroads test method (ATM 101). The webinar includes a description of the process used to update an Australian Standard and outlines the main changes to the 4 revised documents.

Transport Management Centres operate at the heart of our transport networks, coordinating responses to incidents, managing disruptions and supporting the safe and efficient movement of people and goods. Alongside these responsibilities come unique challenges, including shift work, high workloads, exposure to traumatic events and the need to make critical decisions under pressure. This webinar provided an overview of the key findings from the project, discussed practical approaches for managing fatigue and psychosocial hazards in TMC environments, and explored how agencies can better support the wellbeing, resilience and performance of their operational teams. We encourage TMC leaders, operators, incident response personnel, workplace health and safety practitioners, HR professionals and others involved in safety-critical operations to watch this recording. This webinar was presented by David Yee and Sarah Jones.

The Austroads Guide to Temporary Traffic Management (AGTTM) provides nationally consistent guidance for the planning, design, and implementation of safe and efficient temporary traffic management across Australia and New Zealand. Road Infrastructure Managers (RIMs) play a critical role in setting standards, approving works, maintaining network performance and ensuring safe road user outcomes during construction and maintenance activities. This webinar is designed for professionals working within or for RIMs, especially those responsible for managing TTM access to the road network for works, events, and emergencies. This webinar is suited to any RIM personnel involved in reviewing TTM documentation as part of managing road corridor access or the delivery of infrastructure, as well as persons inspecting/auditing temporary traffic management arrangements on behalf of RIM.

The Austroads Guide to Road Safety Part 7: Road Safety Strategy and Management has been updated to Edition 3.0, published April 2026. AGRS Part 7 supports Australian and New Zealand jurisdictions to reach their national targets of zero road deaths and serious injuries by 2050 (and interim targets by 2030). The Guide outlines international best practice and research on road safety management, providing an integrated framework for coordinated strategic planning across all pillars of the Safe System. Edition 3.0 includes minor editorial amendments throughout to align with national and international best practice. Most significantly, it introduces a new Section 2: Road Safety Management - the focus of this webinar. Section 2 delivers targeted, actionable guidance for the people who most shape road safety outcomes at a systems level: senior government executives, senior road safety leaders, road safety delivery partners, and elected officials. It addresses the leadership, institutional, and management conditions that enable, or constrain, effective road safety performance, providing a practical resource for those responsible for driving change at the highest levels. During this webinar, we explore the key elements of the new Section 2.