A road freight access and productivity plan two years in the making has been published by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR).
NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto said the plan would assist Australia’s 425 road managers to coordinate their approach to addressing Australia’s growing road freight task.
“The response to the pandemic has again shown the importance and resilience of Australia’s heavy vehicle industry,” he said this week.
“Importantly, this plan includes a series of short, medium and long-term actions driven by data and information of freight movements across Australia.
Among other objectives, the Heavy Vehicle Productivity Plan 2020-25 will enable partnerships with local governments to build capability and promote more productive and environmentally heavy vehicles, as well as providing certainty and consistency with access.
Work on the plan began in January 2019. A draft plan was published in December 2019, followed by consultations across government and industry.
In late 2019, the NHVR was given $7.96 million in Commonwealth funding to assist road managers with assessments of assets, such as bridges and culverts, on key local government roads.
The nationwide Strategic Local Government Asset Assessment Project aims to identify the existing capacity and capability of road infrastructure and share this information centrally, to inform heavy vehicle road access.
The project will support local government road managers and industry by:
- identifying key heavy vehicle routes on local government roads;
- assisting local government road managers with the management of road asset data related to heavy vehicles;
- delivering prioritised road asset assessments; and
- providing a central database for road managers and industry to access road asset information.
The NHVR says the plan aligns with and complements the heavy vehicle and road freight objectives identified by its government partners.
Actions within each goal that will be reviewed and refined annually.