E-Learning

The Unsealed Roads Best Practice Guide was first published in May 2020 and captures current best practice in managing unsealed roads. The Guide is targeted at local governments (and other organisations) that are tasked with designing, constructing, and maintaining unsealed roads in Australia.

This e-workshop will provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the Guide, as well as practical training on the interpretation and application of the various elements covered in the Guide, including road safety and design, construction and maintenance, as well as managing and operating an unsealed road network.

Each module will be presented by a resident NTRO specialist and will include both technical background information and practical case studies.

Zia Rice is joined by three of her colleagues in the delivery of this e-workshop which covers the contents of the NTRO best practice guide for road materials. The e-workshop consist of four modules which correspond to the four main chapter headings in the guide and aims to provide useful and practical information related to the best practice use of a range of road materials.

The e-workshop covers fit for purpose use of material, the different materials used within a pavement and the different pavement layers, the use of recycled materials as well as an introduction into laboratory testing and material characterisation. The e-workshop also covers sourcing, extraction, and specification of granular materials, in addition to stabilisation of materials and an introduction into field quality testing. There are several worked examples throughout the e-workshop to help consolidate the information which is covered, and also to demonstrate common processes undertaken during the design and construction

Australia has some of the harshest weather extremes in the world – and it has the potential to significantly affect safety on our roads. This webinar will consider the contribution that various kinds of adverse weather can make to road crashes. Wind, extreme heat and intensive rainfall events all have the potential to increase the risk faced by the traveling public, and their influence will be discussed. A selection of risk mitigation measures will also be introduced. Insights into the effects of less common adverse weather such as frost, ice and snow will also be touched upon to provide a comprehensive coverage.

Presenters

• Paul Hillier - Principal Professional Leader, Structures and Certification, NTRO
• Adrian Runacres - UK based expert - Forensic Meteorologist

Brook Hall, Principal Transport Economist at NTRO, outlines why LCA (Life-Cycle Assessment) methodology is such a vital tool for measuring a project’s lifetime resource inputs and outputs, and how this can be used to make recommendations and rankings for alternative options and make decisions. With the transport sector responsible for 17% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, there’s never been a more important time to understand how to maximise the environmental and sustainability potential of new transport projects, policy and planning.

Understanding the functional and structural condition of a road is critical to maintaining its integrity, and that understanding comes from surveying the road itself. Join Richard Wix from NTRO’s Infrastructure Measurement team and Luke Warren, as they run through the different types of data that can be collected in a survey and the array of specialised vehicles that can be deployed to achieve this.

Technology innovation is the biggest driver of transformation in transport. Having flipped from a horse-and-carriage infrastructure a hundred years ago to one that is now moving from combustion to electric engines, transport is changing at an increasingly rapidly pace. Join Dr Charles Karl, Mobility Leader at ARRB, and Samantha Taylor, National Partnerships Leader at ARRB, as they look at emerging transportation trends from drones and driverless cars to infrastructure and regulatory requirements – and their ramifications.

Motorways are the major arteries of our road networks, carrying high volumes of traffic across long distances and supporting the economic productivity of our cities. Join Paul Bennett, of NTRO’s Asset Performance team, as he introduces the principles of motorway management, from productivity to capacity and where the various real-time management systems sit within the hierarchy of control – and why it matters.

Sources of new or ‘virgin’ construction materials are depleting and waste stockpiles are increasing. With growing opportunities to recycle waste materials into road infrastructure, how far have we come in developing these materials and what are the environmental considerations?

For over 30 years NTRO has led Australia’s research and development in the use of recycled and alternative materials in road pavements. We have worked with state and local government and the private sector to run trials and enable the widespread use of recycled materials including crumb rubber, plastics, glass, reclaimed asphalt pavement and crushed construction and demolition waste.

This course introduces the context, concepts and principles underlying this and provides a broad range of in-depth knowledge for practitioners, researchers and industry partners in the framework of a local circular economy.

The topics

Topic 1: Recycled materials in road infrastructure – the state of play

The first topic looks at the current use of recycled materials, including their types and how they are deployed. It then moves on to emerging materials and future considerations, such as the development of technical and performance-based specifications and a whole-of-life approach.

Topic 2: How the ban on exporting waste will lead to more sustainable transport infrastructure for Australia

The second topic is a deeper dive into what has changed since the start of Australia’s recycling crisis, what triggered it and how the market reacted to it. It then considers future market developments, including the advancement of best practice, concluding with case studies that fill out these ideas.

Topic 3: Win-win-win: Recycled pavement materials that deliver sustainable, economic and circular economy goals

The third topic introduces the three wins that the circular economy can bring – waste reduction, cost reduction and greenhouse-gas reduction. The presenters then introduce some of ARRB’s research findings to illustrate how these concepts manifest themselves in road infrastructure.

Topic 4: Preparing and conducting environmental assessments, management plans and audits across road infrastructure projects.

The fourth topic looks at environmental management plans, risk assessments and audits in road infrastructure. After introducing ARRB’s Best Practice Guides to Road Materials, Unsealed Roads, Sealed Roads and Bridge Management, two cases studies then illustrate their real-life application.