A new suite of tools that will help road managers to conduct route assessments for Restricted Access Vehicles (RAVs) in Western Australia are now available.
The Heavy Vehicle Services team within the Department of Main Roads Western Australia (MRWA) worked with Australia’s National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO) on the tools which focus on assessing the capabilities of different RAV combinations in safety-related areas, and their impacts on road infrastructure.
Three separate options are now available that provide insights into: maximum gradeability for tandem and tri-drive vehicle combinations; road wear impacts using the Equivalent Standard Axles (ESA) method; and intersection clearance times and risk analysis.
Each tool allows the user to calculate the performance of a proposed vehicle and compare its results to an existing vehicle.
This allows its impacts relative to a vehicle that already had road network access. The tools can be accessed on the MRWA website here.
“This information is critical for making an informed access decision,” said MRWA .
“The comparison method includes consideration of the broader freight task and allows the road manager to quantify the relative safety and productivity benefits of various vehicle configurations.”
In a news bulletin to its members, Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia noted that the transport industry now has several publicly available online heavy vehicle safety and infrastructure tools at its disposal, with the MRWA tools now joining the following existing tools from regulators and industry:
NHVR Freight Productivity and Safety/Sustainability (Freight PASS)
NHVR Pavement Impact Comparison Calculator
Advantia Payload Pilot Static Rollover Threshold Calculator
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