The Murraylands and Riverland Local Government Association
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HDS Australia Civil Engineers and Project Managers The Murraylands and Riverland Local Government Association UPDATED REGIONAL ROAD ACTION PLANS AND 2017 ROADS DATABASE UPDATE Final Report Adelaide Melbourne Hong Kong HDS Australia Pty Ltd 277 Magill Road Trinity Gardens SA 5068 telephone +61 8 8333 3760 email [email protected] www.hdsaustralia.com.au June 2017 Safe and Sustainable Road Transport Planning Solutions The Murraylands and Riverland Local Government Association HDS Australia Pty Ltd CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Project Brief ........................................................................................................................ 2 2.0 PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND OVERVIEW OF OUTCOMES ........................................................3 2.1 Phase 1 Tasks .................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Phase 1 Outcomes ............................................................................................................. 3 2.3 Phase 2 Tasks .................................................................................................................... 3 2.4 Phase 2 Outcomes ............................................................................................................. 4 3.0 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ............................................................................................................5 APPENDICES A. Updated Regional Road Action Plans (Endorsed by RTS Committee 31 March 2017, Minor Updates 13 June 2017) B. Summary of Submissions C. 2017 Roads Database Update (Endorsed by RTS Committee 31 March 2017) REFERENCES (downloadable from the MRLGA website “Reports” page) 1. 2030 Regional Transport Plan – Final Report, HDS Australia, March 2014 2. 2030 Regional Transport Plan – Regional Routes (as at 1 April 2014) 3. Regional Road Action Plans and 2015 SLRP Roads Database Update – Final Report, HDS Australia, April 2015 LG805\002 Updated Regional Road Action Plans and 2017 SLRP Roads Database Update June 2017 Final Report The Murraylands and Riverland Local Government Association HDS Australia Pty Ltd 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background In June 2013, HDS Australia was engaged by The Murraylands and Riverland Local Government Association (MRLGA) (formerly known as The Murray and Mallee Local Government Association) to prepare its 2030 Regional Transport Plan (Reference 1). The 2030 Regional Transport Plan is a strategic level assessment of transport needs and priorities within the Region for the period from 2013 to 2030. Upon its release in March 2014, it officially replaced an earlier Regional Transport Strategy (RTS) which had been operating since 2002. The final report for the 2030 Regional Transport Plan recognised that the 2030 Regional Transport Plan is a “living” document which will need regular review and updating as subsequent regional planning and development initiatives influence future transport priorities. In particular, Section 9 of the report outlined a methodology for review and update of the 2030 Regional Transport Plan, along with preparation and submission of annual Special Local Roads Program (SLRP) or other funding applications. A flow chart depicting the methodology was presented in Section 9.2 of the report, and is repeated below: LG805\002 Updated Regional Road Action Plans and 2017 SLRP Roads Database Update 1 June 2017 Final Report The Murraylands and Riverland Local Government Association HDS Australia Pty Ltd 1.2 Project Brief In February 2017, HDS Australia was engaged by the MRLGA to assist member councils undertake Step 3 of the above “Methodology for Review and Update of the 2030 Regional Transport Plan”. By virtue of new road proposals being considered from Regional Road Action Plan 2 (i.e. previously unfunded major deficiencies), and with the completion of various projects during the 2015/16 and 2016/17 financial years, a minor update to the Regional Action Plans (part of Step 2 in the above methodology) was also required. The project therefore comprised two separate, but linked components, namely: 1. Phase 1 – Provision of assistance to the MRLGA and individual member councils with an update of Regional Road Action Plans, in accordance with the methodology contained in Section 10 of the 2030 Regional Transport Plan. The purpose of these Action Plans is to develop an overall funding priority list, and associated strategy for seeking additional funds when available, to enable all regionally significant freight, tourism and community access routes (see Reference 2) to operate at their “fit for purpose” standard. 2. Phase 2 – Provision of assistance to the MRLGA to undertake an independent review and prioritisation of road upgrade proposals submitted by member councils for consideration under SLRP annual funding arrangements. This process, identified in Section 9 of the 2030 Regional Transport Plan Final Report, normally utilises a two step assessment process first employed for the 2006 Regional Transport Strategy update and continued through to the 2015 Roads Database update. However for 2017, due to limited time available to obtain relevant information from individual councils, it was agreed that Stage 2 of the assessment process would not be employed. As in the 2015 update, all road proposals submitted for consideration in Phase 2 were required to have been listed under Regional Road Action Plan 1 or 2, or otherwise provide evidence as to why the road being submitted should be included under Action Plan 1 or 2. This provided an essential link to the 2030 Regional Transport Plan, by ensuring that all SLRP road upgrade proposals were for regionally significant roads with major deficiencies. The project was undertaken by a specialist team of road transport planning and traffic engineers from HDS Australia led by John Olson, Managing Director and Principal Engineer, assisted by Daniel Ahrens, Senior Roads & Infrastructure Engineer, and Kyle Yang, Senior Traffic Engineer. The RTS Committee acted as a Reference Group for the project, with Peter Bond, Chief Executive Officer of the MRLGA, as the Client Representative. LG805\002 Updated Regional Road Action Plans and 2017 SLRP Roads Database Update 2 June 2017 Final Report The Murraylands and Riverland Local Government Association HDS Australia Pty Ltd 2.0 PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND OVERVIEW OF OUTCOMES 2.1 Phase 1 Tasks Listed below are the activities undertaken in Phase 1. 1. Contact RTS Committee representatives from each member council to explain requirements expected from councils in relation to the 2017 update of the Roads Database. This included: a. Refresh council representatives about the process; b. Discuss the status of proposals remaining on the 2015 Roads Database (i.e. remove, update or retain); c. Discuss possible additional upgrade proposals from Regional Road Action Plans 1 or 2, as identified by each council representative, including the information required to be submitted with the proposal; and d. Discuss any upgrade proposal(s) from Regional Road Action Plan 3, as identified by each council representative, which may need to be presented as a special case, based upon a significant change in circumstances. 2.2 Phase 1 Outcomes Regional Road Action Plans were updated based on advice received from each council representative. Where roads in Action Plan 1 have been funded and upgraded over the last two financial years, these roads were generally moved to the Compliant road list. An exception to this was Cypress Terrace in Murray Bridge, where a residual geometry issue has been identified at the junction of Cypress Terrace and Maurice Road that restricts the ability of 26m B-Doubles to turn wholly within their lane, resulting in a minor deficiency remaining on this route. Where roads in Action Plan 2 are now included in a council’s five year works program, these roads have been moved to Action Plan 1. No requests were received for roads previously not included in Action Plan 1 or 2 to be elevated. Appendix A of this report contains a copy of the updated Regional Road Action Plans. These were endorsed by the RTS Committee at its meeting on 31 March 2017, apart from the change to the Cypress Terrace entry (as mentioned above) along with several other subsequent changes to District Council of Karoonda East Murray (DCKEM) entries following a meeting with the DCKEM CEO on 5 April 2017. It is expected that this most recent version of the Regional Road Action Plans will be endorsed at the next meeting of the RTS Committee. 2.3 Phase 2 Tasks The independent assessment and prioritisation of road upgrade proposals submitted as part of the 2017 Roads Database Update involved the following steps: 1. 13 road upgrade proposals were received from seven of the eight councils within the MRLGA. Summaries of these upgrade proposals are contained in Appendix B of this report. The proposals were independently reviewed by HDS Australia, which included the following activities: a. A check that each road segment proposed for upgrading was regionally significant, as shown on the latest revision of the Regional Transport Route maps forming part of the 2030 Regional Transport Plan (see Reference 2); b. A check that each road segment was identified as a deficient road segment