Glossary

Word

Definition

Audible Edge Lines

Low bumps, buttons, bars, grooves or strips closely spaced across or immediately adjacent to a street or path that draw attention to a feature or hazard, and can have a vibratory and/or audible effect when travelled over. They are often used as supplementary treatments, as part of a suite of risk reduction measures, e.g. in combination with warning and regulatory signs, entry statements, shared zones and other LATM treatments.

Bypass

An alternative route that enables through-traffic to avoid urban areas.

Carriageway

The portion of a road or bridge devoted particularly to the use of vehicles, inclusive of shoulders and auxiliary lanes.

Community Engagement

Involving communities in the prioritisation and development of services in their own area. Community Engagement includes Community Consultation, but also goes beyond this, to include the more active processes in which communities play a greater role in actually formulating plans or influencing local developments.

Corporate Governance

The way Main Roads balances compliance against risk-taking as it directs, controls and is held accountable for its business performance.

Culvert

One or more adjacent pipes or enclosed channels for conveying a stream below formation level and carrying water under a roadway.

Development Employee

Any graduate, associate, cadet, trainee and scholarship student is considered to be a development employee.

Drainage

The removal of water by flow from the ground or from its surface.

Floodway

A longitudinal section or road designed at, or just above, ground level specially constructed to allow the passage of floodwater across it without damage.

Freeway

A divided highway for through-traffic with no access for traffic between interchanges and with grade separation at all intersections.

Global Reporting Initiative

Global Reporting Strategy

Highway

Highways provide connection between capital cities. They are also principal routes between a city and the major producing regions of the State. Highways also service major transport terminals or significant commercial and industrial centres.

Individual Development Plan

Supports the ongoing learning and development of employees and provides a framework for performance management.

Integrated Service Agreement

The new form of contract in which Main Roads will be working alongside the contractor for road maintenance and rehabilitation.

Main Road

A principal road in the road system.

Maintenance

The work carried out on an existing road and infrastructure to maintain its efficiency or quality.

Overlay

The addition of one or more courses of pavement material to an existing road surface, generally to increase strength, and/or to improve ride quality.

Overtaking/Passing Lane

An auxiliary lane provided for slower vehicles to allow them to be overtaken.

Pavement

That portion of a carriageway placed above the levelled surface or earth or rock for the support of, and to form a running surface for, vehicular traffic.

Performance Indicator

A simple measure that allows objective comparisons to be made. An example is road maintenance costs per kilometre in a region. This can then be compared to other regions and monitored over time.

Principal Shared Paths

Paths covering access all throughout the network for use by pedestrians and cyclists.

Realignment

A change in the geometric form of the original centre-line of a carriageway with respect to the vertical and horizontal axes.

Reconstruction

Rebuilding of a road. Reconstruction is normally undertaken when a pavement has reached the end of its economic life and where the alignment, or formation height, or width is substandard.

Seal

A thin surface layer of sprayed bitumen.

Stakeholder

A person or group of people with a direct interest, involvement, or investment in something.

Strategy

This is how a broad objective will be approached. An example is Main Roads’ contracting strategy. It specifies the mix of contract types that will deliver the best outcome for the community.

Sustainability

The long-term balance of social, environmental and economic factors into an organisation’s activities, decision-making and investment processes.

Variable Message Signs

Displays information messages to alert drivers of on-road incidences on the road ahead. They are also used to warn road users about weather conditions and other important information.