Local government

The Queensland Government is currently consulting with the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ), individual local councils and other road managers to integrate other road and bridge information into the NAAS as part of a staged process.

The ALGA Board of Directors has endorsed the NAAS as the preferred access model for a national access system because of the benefits to local councils.

We understand the importance of including other road manager networks into the NAAS because they are important for first and last mile access. It is important for industry operators and road managers to leverage all the system's productivity benefits.

How road managers take part and access the NAAS

We have been using a staged approach to work with other road managers to integrate their road data into the NAAS, focusing on local road networks that have the highest number of Class 1 Oversize Overmass movements first (based on permit data).

Where other road managers have existing access pre-approvals in place with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, or data from the Strategic Local Government Asset Assessment Project, we'll assist road managers to transition this information into the NAAS.

What the new access regime means for a road manager

Case scenario

A road manager that works for a local council which has a road network that covers 3,685 kms of local council roads (including bridges).

Work task

Approves access for Class 1 Oversize Overmass (OSOM) heavy vehicles who want to travel on their local council road network. Also sets access conditions in which the vehicle operates to allow for the efficient road transport of goods and to ensure the safety of all road users.

Costs

There is no cost for the road manager to use or access the NAAS system as part of the new access regime.

In cases where the road manager has pre-approvals in place with the NHVR, these can be transitioned into the NAAS. There may be costs to generate their road network information so it can be entered into the NAAS if it's not already available from the NHVR GO Portal or other sources.

Main benefits

The new access regime will include a Queensland map of state-controlled and local council road networks displayed in the NAAS. Access will be determined on individual structural and network capacity and the load induced by the specific vehicle configuration.

This will provide the road manager with greater certainty of where Class 1 heavy vehicles can travel on their road network and any conditions. It will also help them in better understanding and managing their networks.

By using the NAAS this will reduce the need for the road manager to manually approve permits through the NHVR GO Portal because in approximately 80% of cases industry operators will not need to apply for access via a permit. There will be substantial administrative savings and reduction in work loads for the road manager.

With telematics a condition of access, road managers will have access to Class 1 heavy vehicle movement information which is currently not available under the existing vehicle access regime. This information will allow road managers to see where heavy vehicles are moving on their road network and how often, as well as what type of loads they are moving.

This will give road managers visibility of these movements across their networks for the first time and provide an opportunity to move from scheduled maintenance to predictive maintenance. It will allow them to be able to better understand and manage their networks and help them improve their asset management practices by applying a data standardisation process.

The new access regime can also provide the basis for road funding to shift from an ad hoc grant-based road funding model to a more sustainable needs-based funding model that is driven by data. It will also help local councils more easily identify exactly where investment and infrastructure uplift across the road network is required which will be significant to state economic growth. Local councils can transform to a more sustainable data-driven planning and investment approach.

Additionally, with the new access regime including the latest version of the NAAS, it will provide Queensland road managers a pathway to be part of the national access system.

The Strategic Local Government Asset Assessment Project (SLGAAP)

SLGAAP Phase 3 is an Australian Government funded initiative to:

• assist local government road managers to undertake capacity assessments of roads and structures (bridges and culverts) on key routes for heavy vehicles, providing information on safe operating limits of road infrastructure and facilitates safe access for heavy vehicles.
• support the collection of local government asset data suitable to be ingested into the National Automated Access System (NAAS).

The NAAS is based on Tasmania’s Heavy Vehicle Access System and will support automated access by producing an individual, tailored network access map for the applicant vehicle.

The Queensland Government has an agreement with Australian Government to deliver the SLGAAP across priority councils in Queensland that are being onboarded initially into the NAAS. 

SLGAAP will assist local councils to undertake heavy vehicle assessments of on-road assets, such as bridges and culverts. Through this collaborative approach we will deliver road asset data to support the implementation of the NAAS, provide increased knowledge of local government heavy vehicle network assets and develop engineering capability within local councils through the engineering assessment processes. 

Contact us

To speak with the team, email [email protected]