Wednesday, 30 May 2018
Austroads' latest report details the results of a domestic and international review of recently-developed intelligent transport systems technologies and the costs and benefits of introducing them to Australia and New Zealand.
Toward the end of the twentieth century it became apparent that building more roads was not an effective solution for improving urban mobility. Intelligent transport systems (ITS) provide a partial solution by addressing safety and congestion issues in the road transport system.
A total of 70 technologies were identified across six domains: crossings, intersections, on-road, roadside, mobile/tablet and in-vehicle. Austroads member agencies are currently using 25 of the technologies identified.
The Austroads report supports Action Item #14 of the Transport and Infrastructure Council’s National Policy Framework for Land Transport Technology: Action Plan 2016-2019. The project outcome will enable road operators to identify those technologies that cost-effectively deliver substantial safety or efficiency benefits to their customers.
The project team evaluated the technical quality of 39 studies related to the technology. The assessment process developed will have application beyond this project and is detailed in the report.
The project revealed:
- there are few studies that report the costs and benefits of safety and traffic management technologies
- the reviewed literature indicates that the BCR of ITS is reported as very high; often much greater than those of typical infrastructure projects
- scientific rigour is higher in road safety focussed studies
- very low-cost technologies can be beneficial
- the majority of studies were done overseas.
Report link: Benefits of Safety and Traffic Management Technologies
Webinar: Benefits of Safety and Traffic Management Technologies
This webinar, presented on 19 June 2018, summarises the results of a domestic and international review of recently-developed ITS technologies. The webinar was presented by Dr Glenn Geers. Download the presentation slides.