ABSTRACT
Australia has a relatively small and dispersed population across a significantly large continent. Its economy is heavily based on the movement of freight which is primarily done on its road network due to capacity and access limitations on other alternatives such as rail, air, and water. The freight task is growing rapidly due to unprecedented population growth, coupled with increased demand from trading partners in Asia and rapid changes in technology, e-commerce, and consumer behavior. To remain competitive in a global market, the movement of freight must be fast, efficient, and effective. This is a significant challenge with an ageing road bridge network designed and built to outdated standards, loads increasing in frequency and mass and more frequent extreme climatic events like floods and bushfires.
Australia’s road infrastructure managers are investing in research to seek innovations and practical and implementable improvements. Partnerships between researchers and infrastructure managers are critical to ensure innovations are identified, best practice is furthered, and the ever-increasing risk is appropriately managed. To achieve this and rise to the challenges faced research programs have covered many areas including the refinement of structural assessments, assessing structural risk, identifying innovative materials and maintenance, rehabilitation and strengthening techniques, improved monitoring practices and enhanced testing and analysis. The outcomes of this research will be shared along with recommendations for future investment and research.
