Road management

Ensuring reliable and efficient movement of people and goods

Network operations

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems

Our Road Network Operations Centre (RNOC) is implementing Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) to benefit road users and transport operators in Western Australia. In May this year we released our Roadmap to Enabling C-ITS in Western Australia.

C-ITS refers to a group of technologies allowing effective data exchange and offering road users the right information at the right time, based on where they are and the situations they encounter on the road. It provides warnings and information to drivers as well as information to traffic operators for improving safety, movement and operational efficiency, environmental sustainability and customer experience.

C-ITS is advancing globally and, to realise benefits, there needs to be ongoing collaboration between government, industry, and road users. Our vision is supporting implementation of a nationally harmonised C-ITS ecosystem across the State's road network. By doing this we will enhance safety, movement, regional resilience and enable future vehicle technologies.

During the development of our Roadmap, we identified the following challenges to be addressed on our metropolitan, regional, and rural road networks:

• ensuring safety for all road users at signalised intersections
• keeping road users informed about changes to the road environment
• delivering real-time road network event alerts across metropolitan, regional and rural roads
• managing competing road-user priorities.

Our roadmap proposes potential C-ITS use-cases to help address key challenges and it plans the actions required over the next four years. Further information is available on our website.

ITS Awards

The ITS Australia Awards are the most prestigious, celebration of excellence in the Intelligent Transport Systems industry. In 2025 they will take place in Perth for the first time thanks to the efforts of our ITS Operations team and the connections they have built with ITS Australia and other industry partners.

Getting ready for Smart Freeway Mitchell Southbound

While already well-practised after starting the operation of Kwinana Freeway northbound in 2020, bringing the next smart freeway to Mitchell Freeway southbound, Hester Avenue to Vincent Street, is no small feat. The scale of Smart Mitchell Freeway Southbound and our continued commitment to provide world-class service, requires months of planning and preparation leading up to the deployment of the smart freeway's technologies and beyond. Work is well underway on operational readiness, including investigations into:

• network operations and performance strategy
• people readiness, including skills gap assessment and upskilling
• stakeholder management
• supplier procurement
• systems and processes required, including performance reporting to key stakeholders in the first days and weeks of operation.

Real-time operating platform

We are developing and embedding our intuitive interface for managing the road network that when complete all existing standalone ITS applications and systems will be integrated into a single platform that will:

• provide real-time visibility of traffic congestion across the metropolitan road network
• supply the analysis and reporting capability to assess effectiveness of actions taken
• provide visualisation, analysis and reporting capability
• deliver proactive network management, as well as support decision making
• unify and harmonise systems
• enable new capabilities to better collaborate and coordinate across the Transport Portfolio, minimising degradation to journey time reliability.

Heavy Vehicle Services

We are the Heavy Vehicle Regulator for Western Australia and are responsible for:

• facilitating and regulating the movement of restricted access vehicles across the state
• providing of a one-stop shop for permits and traffic escort services for over size, over mass movements
• administering the Heavy Vehicle Pilot Licencing Scheme, the WA Heavy Vehicle Accreditation (WAHVA) Scheme, and the training and certification of WAHVA Scheme auditors. Last year there were 5,096 transport operators enrolled in the WAHVA Scheme
• working with industry groups and other government agencies at a state and national level to improve heavy vehicle safety, productivity and equity of services across the freight transport industry.

By working with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, we enable the movement of restricted access vehicles between Western Australia and other states. We are continuing to see an increase in the number of permits issued, reaching a new high of 38,932 issued last year.

*Bookings can range from a half-day to up to seven days

Transition to new Telematics Monitoring Application

In May we announced that the Intelligent Access Program (IAP) is being replaced. Several other jurisdictions have already replaced IAP with alternatives for vehicle monitoring. We have been working to develop a new approach which was introduced midway through 2023 as a potential replacement for IAP in Western Australia. The new approach offers improved monitoring through enhanced functionality, adopts future proof technology, gives operator flexibility through a wider offering of applications and aligns with the national approach.

Planning and Technical Services

Network LiDAR project

LiDAR (light detection and ranging) is a system using lasers to make a digital 3D representation of areas of the Earth’s surface using point cloud data. Survey quality LiDAR and 360-degree imagery data for all main roads in the state network and the majority of on- and off-ramps, rotaries and principal shared paths have been captured. A helicopter-based system was used to capture unsealed roads to avoid running expensive vehicle-based systems on rough terrain. AI and machine learning has been used extensively to generate Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) star rating data from the LiDAR and imagery data, securing our status as a pioneering organisation in this space. To date, no other agency in the world has undertaken this process at this scale. Approximately 70% of the network has been coded and extracted, and we will begin turning this data into AusRAP star ratings during the next 12 months.

Perth Transport Model

This project is an Australian-first initiative to integrate modelling for best practice activity-based person and tour based commercial vehicle travel demand across the metropolitan area. Over the past 12 months we have undertaken two key travel surveys: Perth Area Travel and Household Survey, and the Commercial Vehicle Survey. These offer a snapshot of personal travel behaviour and commercial vehicle activity. This data enables future modelling of distributional and social equity impacts of new transport infrastructure and travel-demand management initiatives. In addition, impacts from technologies and social changes, such as autonomous vehicles, ridesharing and working from home, can be modelled.

Sustainability planning ratings

We have been recognised by the Infrastructure Sustainability Council, a leading authority across Australia and New Zealand undertaking sustainability planning ratings for major infrastructure projects. The Infrastructure Sustainability Rating Scheme (IS) is Australia and New Zealand’s only comprehensive rating system for evaluating economic, social and environmental performance of infrastructure across the planning, design, construction and operational phases of infrastructure assets. Over the past 12 months we have completed five planning ratings – these included Manuwarra Red Dog Highway Stage 4, Mandurah Estuary Bridge widening and Eastlink Stages 1, 2 and 3 projects. We also completed the first ever program planning rating – achieving a silver rating. The learnings and processes developed are now being applied on other major state infrastructure projects such as the Westport project. Four other projects are currently in the process of preparing for a planning rating, including Orrong Road, Tonkin Highway North Ellenbrook grade separation, Pinjarra Heavy Haulage Deviation and Morrison Road railway level crossing removal.

Strategic research, innovation and collaboration

We develop and enhance our collective knowledge of economic, environmental and social topics through partnerships and research collaborations. We partner with industry and research institutions to undertake leading-edge road and transport research collaborating with:

• Austroads
• National Transport Research Organisation
• Western Australian Road Research and Innovation Program (WARRIP)
• Planning and Transport Research Centre
• Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre
• iMove
• Western Australian Centre for Road Safety Research
• Australian Research Centre

Our internal Innovation and Research Program encourages our people to collaborate, learn, solve problems and explore new and innovative opportunities. This allows us to solve real business problems or explore new opportunities in conjunction with the organisations above as well as universities, Cooperative Research Centres and the private sector. During the year nine new projects were approved, and we have 17 active projects. Our new projects have a variety of topics and scope including investigating how concrete fills form, simulating potential new roundabout configurations and contributing to national work on Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems.