Wraps come off NHVR’s heavy vehicle productivity blueprint

A road
freight access and productivity plan two years in the making has been published
by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR).

NHVR CEO
Sal Petroccitto said the plan would assist Australia’s 425 road managers to
coordinate their approach to addressing Australia’s growing road freight task.

“The
response to the pandemic has again shown the importance and resilience of
Australia’s heavy vehicle industry,” he said this week.

“Importantly,
this plan includes a series of short, medium and long-term actions driven by
data and information of freight movements across Australia.

Among other objectives, the Heavy Vehicle Productivity Plan 2020-25 will enable partnerships with local governments to build capability and promote more productive and environmentally heavy vehicles, as well as providing certainty and consistency with access.

Work on the
plan began in January 2019. A draft plan was published in December 2019,
followed by consultations across government and industry.

In late
2019, the NHVR was given $7.96 million in Commonwealth funding to assist road
managers with assessments of assets, such as bridges and culverts, on key local
government roads.

The
nationwide Strategic Local Government Asset Assessment Project aims to identify
the existing capacity and capability of road infrastructure and share this
information centrally, to inform heavy vehicle road access.

The project
will support local government road managers and industry by:

• identifying
  key heavy vehicle routes on local government roads;
• assisting
  local government road managers with the management of road asset data related
  to heavy vehicles;
• delivering
  prioritised road asset assessments; and
• providing
  a central database for road managers and industry to access road asset
  information.

The NHVR
says the plan aligns with and complements the heavy vehicle and road freight
objectives identified by its government partners. 

Actions
within each goal that will be reviewed and refined annually.