››› Session 2

Why have operational performance of the road network and incident management become so important?

Dennis Walsh   Director (Network Operations and ITS Infrastructure), Main Roads Qld

Gerard Reardon   Project Manager, Cooperative Road Management Project, Main Roads Qld

Queensland's 34,000 kilometres of state controlled road network represents only 20% of Queensland's total road network but carries 80% of the state's traffic. The State covers 1.7 million square kilometres, yet approximately 80% of the 3.3 million Queenslanders live in the State's south-east region, an area that represents less than 20% of the State. Within densely populated urban areas non-recurrent congestion due to both planned and unplanned incidents has significant adverse economic and environmental impacts. Within Brisbane city alone, adverse impacts due to non-recurrent congestion is estimated to cost approximately $200m pa. In regional areas, misinformation of road closures due to incidents adversely impacts the freight industry, the tourist industry and the economic performance of towns and regional centres. Each financial year, in excess of $1 billion is available to fund Main Roads planning, construction and maintenance responsibilities. Allocation of the funding across the range of Main Roads responsibilities is constantly being challenged from competing various interests. Within this strategic context, this paper outlines the reasons supporting Main Roads increased emphasis on assessing and understanding how the major road network is operating and how both planned and unplanned incidents are managed across the relevant state and local government agencies.