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Road Design

Cover of Safety Provisions for Floodways Over Roads
Safety Provisions for Floodways Over Roads
  • Publication no: AP-R481-15
  • ISBN: 978-1-925294-12-5
  • Published: 31 March 2015

This report summarises research into effective ways of alerting drivers to the dangers of crossing a floodway when it is under water.

Floodways are typically used where it is impractical to provide a bridge or culvert. Despite public campaigns on the risk of crossing a flooded floodway, fatalities continue to occur.

The report recommends a range of improvements to floodway signage and warning devices, a floodway design supplement to the Austroads Guide to Road Design, investigations into mobile and in-vehicle warning systems, and ways to better capture information about crashes at floodways.

  • 1. Introduction
    • 1.1. Purpose
    • 1.2. Issues of Concern
    • 1.3. Definitions
  • 2. Methodology
    • 2.1. Literature Review
    • 2.2. Jurisdiction Consultation
    • 2.3. Crash Analysis
    • 2.4. Discussion Paper and Workshop
    • 2.5. Local Government Survey
    • 2.6. Discussion and Reporting
  • 3. Literature Review
    • 3.1. Floodway Requirements
      • 3.1.1. Types of Floodways
      • 3.1.2. Floodway Design Considerations
      • 3.1.3. Current Signing Standards
    • 3.2. Safety Hazards at Floodways
      • 3.2.1. Safety Criteria
      • 3.2.2. Safety Messages
    • 3.3. Flooded Road Signage Studies
      • 3.3.1. Driver Responses
      • 3.3.2. Signing Strategies
      • 3.3.3. Automated Warning Systems
      • 3.3.4. Advanced Warning Systems
      • 3.3.5. Application of ITS for Flood Warning Systems
      • 3.3.6. Replacement of Depth Gauges
    • 3.4. Summary
  • 4. Consultation
    • 4.1. Jurisdiction Consultation
      • 4.1.1. New South Wales
      • 4.1.2. Victoria
      • 4.1.3. Queensland
      • 4.1.4. South Australia
      • 4.1.5. Western Australia
      • 4.1.6. Tasmania
      • 4.1.7. Northern Territory
      • 4.1.8. New Zealand
      • 4.1.9. Local Government
  • 5. Crash Analysis
    • 5.1. Data Sources
      • 5.1.1. New South Wales
      • 5.1.2. Victoria
      • 5.1.3. Queensland
      • 5.1.4. South Australia
      • 5.1.5. Western Australia
      • 5.1.6. Tasmania
      • 5.1.7. Northern Territory
      • 5.1.8. New Zealand
    • 5.2. Analysis Process
      • 5.2.1. Limitations of the Analysis
    • 5.3. Results
      • 5.3.1. New South Wales
      • 5.3.2. Queensland
      • 5.3.3. South Australia
      • 5.3.4. Western Australia
      • 5.3.5. New Zealand
    • 5.4. Summary of Findings
      • 5.4.1. Characteristics
      • 5.4.2. Challenges and Future Work
  • 6. Discussion of Findings
    • 6.1. Jurisdiction Consultations
    • 6.2. Workshop Outcomes
    • 6.3. Geometric Design Requirements
    • 6.4. Crossing ‘Dry’ Floodways
    • 6.5. Crossing ‘Wet’ Floodways
    • 6.6. Floodway Crash Analysis
    • 6.7. Discussion
    • 6.8. Proposed Actions
  • 7. Conclusions and Recommendations
    • 7.1. Conclusions
    • 7.2. Recommendations
  • References
  • Appendix A Workshop Participants
  • Appendix B Questionnaire Survey
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