Optimising road infrastructure performance with ARRB

ARRB recognises that the effective and efficient management of road infrastructure is critical for the Australian economy and general quality of life, so we’ve made changes to play our part, writes Nigel Powers, Australian Road Research Board National Infrastructure Strategist.

Road infrastructure is critical for the Australian economy through the movement of freight and also for quality of life through connecting people, business and communities. The quality of our road infrastructure impacts people’s lives in both positive and negative ways, which makes the management of it of the utmost importance.

Expectations on road infrastructure managers like State and Territory Governments, local government and private operators is very high and has become heightened even further with scrutiny via social and other forms of media. At the same time, there are significant pressures on government to provide greater level of service for other infrastructure they manage like schools, hospitals and law enforcement.

All of the above creates notable pressure on road infrastructure managers to minimise spend on the management of the network while attempting to meet the high expectations of the community.

Realising this, ARRB has recently created a Road Asset Performance (RAP) team to work with all levels of government to optimise the performance of the road network. RAP provides an end-to-end service by using data, analytics and best practice asset management to work with clients to get the most out of their budgets and network.

We have the latest in technology to survey road infrastructure and obtain the data needed to make informed decisions about maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement.

We can then work with our clients to analyse the data collected and determine how to best utilise the funding they have or to developed comprehensive and persuasive business cases for future funding.

Whether you need further investigation and advice on isolated issues like rutting or potholing up to network-wide analysis, ARRB’s RAP team has the technology and capability to help.

Find out more about ARRB and the Road Asset Performance team by visiting our website.