mark wolstenholme, nrma motoring services - designing roads that work for motorists
DESCRIPTION
Mark Wolstenholme, Senior Policy Adviser, Traffic and Roads, NRMA Motoring Services delivered the presentation at the 2014 Major Road Projects Conference. The Major Road Projects Conference brings together government officials with those responsible for the planning, financing and construction of Australia’s critical road infrastructure to discuss future plans. It offers a practical assessment of the strategy necessary to ensure Australia’s current and future major roads projects are successful. For more information about the event, please visit: http://www.informa.com.au/roadprojectsconferenceTRANSCRIPT
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Designing roads that work for
motorists
Major Road Projects Conference
11-12 March 2014, Sydney, Australia
Mark Wolstenholme
Senior Policy Adviser – Traffic and Safer Roads
NRMA Motoring & Services
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Mega motorways
WestConnex - a once in a lifetime opportunity to
make a positive contribution to the way
Sydneysiders move around
Fills critical gaps in Sydney’s motorway network
and enables urban renewal along the Parramatta
Road corridor.
Much more than just a road
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WestConnex must work for people -
and not just for the first few years after opening
It must fulfil its stated objective of
relieving congestion on the M4 and
M5 and the parallel arterial routes.
This must be the overriding
principal, not revenue maximisation
for Government.
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“Relieving congestion on the M4 and M5 and the parallel
arterial routes” – what does this mean in practice?
Offering motorists a certain level of service?
Moving as many people as we can?
Moving as many vehicles as we can?
Set clear objectives for the network and monitor
performance against them?
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Driving the traffic = more revenue
• Anything that is blocking traffic is lost revenue
• Where the revenue risk sits with the concessionaire
they are more motivated to fix it
• But still relatively conservative about what they are
going to do to fix it
• Rigorous conditions around air quality and noise –
what about traffic and safety?
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NRMA’s ‘Decongestion Strategy’:
Manage the motorways
1 million journeys each day on
Sydney’s motorways
Traffic jams can build at the rate
of 1.5km a minute
Unmanaged motorways = 25%
loss of capacity
Don’t try to reinvent the wheel -
use tried and tested ‘off the shelf’
technology as used in Melbourne
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WestConnex Stage 1:
The longest road tunnel in Australia
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A completely new experience for Sydney motorists
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What happens when things go wrong?
The longer the tunnel, the greater
the likelihood of an incident
somewhere in the tunnel
The whole tunnel will close
whenever there is a significant
incident in the tunnel
Need new ways to manage
incidents
Need to minimise the number of
incidents
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New ways to manage incidents
TMC adopted NRMA’s call
for target time for clearing
major traffic incidents
Need to look outside the
traditional motorway lease
area
Strict performance
measures for motorway
operators AND the TMC
No tolls for incident
responders
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What about the surface routes?
Make sure the detour routes have
sufficient capacity
These routes will be used by B-
double petrol tankers, overheight
trucks and whenever there is an
incident in the tunnel
May need to suspend the bus
lanes when there is an incident in
the tunnel
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Reduce confusion and achieve better flow and
safety approaching the tunnel
200m out from the portal, drivers
are fixated on the portal
They are not focused on signs,
other than the speed limit
Need to reduce the forest of signs
e.g. why does NSW require 3 x
fixed signs before each VSLS zone?
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Use 21st Century technology
Source: Picture VMS from roadtraffic-technology.com, by SES (Securite and
Signalisation) Technologies
Must have 21st Century
technology such as
picture / colour VMS
(RMS failed to act on
NRMA’s submissions to
the M2 and M5 widening)
Pull out areas for
overheight vehicles
Avoid right hand on and
off-ramps
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A new appreciation of how motorists behaviour
interacts with the physical engineering
Tunnel portals can positively or negatively
influence drivers feelings and actions
including stress, panic and speed
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Minimising incidents in the tunnel
Safety – e.g. drainage pits, merge lengths, lane
widths, pavement lights, fatigue, monotony
claustrophobia
There is no room for error – a small deviation can
end in catastrophe
Flow breakdown – e.g. merging traffic, speed
cameras, shock waves, wall panels to show gradient
Flow breakdown - not at tunnel low point
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Contemporary traffic and road safety – a new
opportunity for WestConnex
Austroads Guide to Road Tunnels and current RMS
specs do not pick up on these details
Traffic models are unable to pick up on these details
Over reliance on the traffic model is a feature of
many projects
What design capacity is assumed – 2100pv/h/lane?
Operational capacity may actually be much less –
1700 pc/h/lane in tunnels. Even less where lower
speed limits
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So what’s the answer?
No shortage of skilled people who can build tunnels
Taking the traditional approach and replicating
previous tunnel designs and ways of operating will not
work
Needs a much greater understanding and focus on
the detailed traffic and safety issues
Need new creative skills and solutions
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Everything will be OK - it’s a 3 lane tunnel…
Comparison of total crashes by number of lanes on urban freeways
Kononov, Bailey, and Allery, 2008
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Bored tunnels
Tunnels are monotonous for
drivers due to their form (e.g. few
intersections, one way flow)
Fatigue or tiredness in drivers in
tunnels is more prevalent.
Truck drivers can experience
these effects more than drivers of
other vehicles due to the large
distances involved whilst in transit.
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Lærdal Tunnel, Norway – 24.5km
Divided into 4
sections
Three 30m diameter
mountain halls
Keeps drivers alert
and creates the
perception that
drivers are entering
a new tunnel
Source for Laerdal images: Erik Selmer, lighting designer
http://lightzoomlumiere.fr/2013/08/29/effects-of-blue-light-23-erik-
selmer/
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Lærdal Tunnel, Norway
/
“While the main tunnel has white lights, the caves have
blue lighting with yellow lights at the fringes to give an
impression of sunrise. The caves are meant to break the
routine, providing a refreshing view”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A6rdal_Tunnel
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We highlight our bridges. Why can’t WestConnex
be interesting for motorists too?
/
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The Stockholm bypass Project – a new 21km
motorway with 18km of tunnels
/
This section creates a
contrast from the
surrounding tunnel
It is called “the lung”
and is part of the
ventilation system
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Other Australian road tunnels
6.7km AirportLink, Brisbane
4.8km Clem7
4.6km Legacy Way
4.4km EastWest Link, Melboune (Stage 1 Ref Design,
between the Eastern Freeway and CityLink)
3.4km CityLink Burnley Tunnel, Melbourne
1.6km CityLink Domain Tunnel
1.6km Eastlink
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A new…
M5 East tidal flow
CCT 4th Lane Anzac Bridge and Ward Avenue ramp at
the eastern end
LCT – 3rd lane on M2
M7 – the Old Windsor Road interchange at Norwest
Boulevard