Country Roads Engagement Feedback Analysis Report
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SUBMISSION NO: 322 - ATTACHMENT 3 VICROADS COUNTRY ROADS ENGAGEMENT FEEDBACK ANALYSIS REPORT SEPTEMBER 2017 CONFIDENTIAL Country Roads Engagement Feedback Analysis Report VicRoads WSP Level 15, 28 Freshwater Place Southbank VIC 3006 Tel: +61 3 9861 1111 Fax: +61 3 9861 1144 wsp.com REV DATE DETAILS A 08/09/2017 Draft B 18/09/2017 Final C 26/09/2017 Revised Final This document may contain confidential and legally privileged information, neither of which are intended to be waived, and must be used only for its intended purpose. Any unauthorised copying, dissemination or use in any form or by any means other than by the addressee, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this document in error or by any means other than as authorised addressee, please notify us immediately and we will arrange for its return to us. 2271547A-STE-REP-001 RevC Confidential September 2017 TABLE OF 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................... 1 1.1 Document purpose ................................................................. 1 CONTENTS 2 KEY MESSAGES TO VICROADS ...................................... 3 3 FEEDBACK THEMES .......................................................... 4 3.1 Road condition and maintenance .......................................... 4 3.1.1 Freight and truck movements ..............................................................4 3.1.2 Maintenance .......................................................................................5 3.1.3 Vehicle damage ..................................................................................6 3.1.4 Roadside vegetation ...........................................................................6 3.2 Freight movements ................................................................. 6 3.3 Tourism ................................................................................... 7 3.3.1 Driver behaviour .................................................................................7 3.3.2 Safety and access restrictions .............................................................8 3.3.3 Maintenance .......................................................................................8 3.4 Road safety ............................................................................. 8 3.5 Future priorities ...................................................................... 9 3.6 Perception of VicRoads .......................................................... 9 4 REGIONAL ENGAGEMENT SUMMARY ........................ 11 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Summary of activities ..................................................................2 Table 4.1 Key themes level of interest by region (number of comments) ................................................................................ 11 Table 4.2 Regional key engagement feedback .......................................... 11 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1 Summary of engagement feedback by theme ...............................4 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A Localised feedback 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 DOCUMENT PURPOSE This document provides a summary and analysis of the engagement outcomes from the Country Roads Engagement Program undertaken by VicRoads, between 12 February and 13 August 2017, across nine regional areas in Victoria: Barwon, Central Highlands, Gippsland, Goulburn, Great South Coast, Loddon Campaspe, Mallee, Ovens Murray and Wimmera Southern Mallee. It provides a summary of stakeholder feedback classified by key themes and highlights key messages from the community. As part of the country roads program, between 12 February and 13 August 2017, VicRoads conducted a state-wide regional engagement program to gather community input and ideas on how to better plan, build, manage and maintain country arterial roads in Victoria. Involving nine Regional Partnership regions, the engagement process was designed to be explorative and in accordance with VicRoads’ aim of having community engagement as a continual component of VicRoads initiatives. The engagement approach focussed on encouraging community participation to influence decisions about required upgrades across Victoria country roads and sought to identify the main challenges and opportunities that local communities experience when using the country roads and transport network. The engagement program included several engagement activities, which are summarised in Table 1.1. Project No 2271547A WSP Country Roads Engagement Feedback Analysis Report September 2017 VicRoads Page 1 Table 1.1 Summary of activities ACTIVITY PURPOSE TARGET AUDIENCE NO OF PARTICIPATION NUMBERS ACTIVITIES EngageVicRoads Encourage state-wide feedback on key issues Residents residing in regional 1 — 430 participants online platform associated with country roads on an interactive map areas, or using regional road — 949 comments and 1635 votes networks — 10,000 unique views — 3,343 map views — 980 downloads of the Conversation Starter1 Great South Coast Gather stakeholder feedback regarding regional roads Residents and road users in the 3 — 64 participants engagement Great South Coast region — 185 comments Community forums Identify community concerns, areas of interest, ideas, Regional community members 8 — 242 participants and comments regarding the country road network — 676 comments Stakeholder meetings Share information with key stakeholders and discuss Key stakeholders2 12 — 91 participants issues and concerns regarding the country road network — 71 comments Stakeholder forums Gather stakeholder input on key topics 3 As above 15 — 905 comments — 209 participants Email submissions Seek public feedback regarding Victoria country roads Regional community members, 42 — 42 emails special interest groups VicRoads and Facilitate discussion and exchange of information to VicRoads staff and 30 — 47 Participants Transport for Victoria identify concerns and gather specific input on country representatives from Transport for — 112 comments staff insights roads Victoria Facebook Facilitate interactive communication and public Victorian residents 1 — 277 participants commenting to gather information regarding issues and — 350 comments perceptions from the stakeholders 1 Available at https://engage.vicroads.vic.gov.au/countryroads/news_feed/discussion-paper 2 Key stakeholders included: freight operators, transport industry, businesses, tourism operators, special interest groups, road users, cyclists, motorcycle groups, government agencies, Regional Development Victoria, Regional Cities Victoria and Victorian Farmers Federation 3 Key topics included: Growing our regions; Reducing lives lost on country roads; Building a more resilient and reliable country road network; Growing regional economies through improved and efficient freight access; Enhancing regional Victoria as a tourist destination Project No 2271547A WSP Country Roads Engagement Feedback Analysis Report September 2017 VicRoads Page 2 2 KEY MESSAGES TO VICROADS A number of key messages emerged from the country roads engagement. These are summarised below. — Across all regions, country roads are viewed as being in poor condition. Freight and truck movements, poor long- term maintenance regimes and funding for country roads are seen as key contributing factors to deteriorating road condition. — The freight industry is viewed as playing a critical role in the lives of rural communities and economies. Roads need to be upgraded to support efficient movement, enhance accessibility to regional areas and markets and manage competing interests of road users. — Poor road condition is seen to have direct impacts on the productivity of the regional economy. It results in inefficient freight movement and accessibility, greater need for vehicle repairs, and produce damage during transportation to market. — The country road network plays a significant role in regional tourism. To ensure regional tourism opportunities are realised, roads must be properly maintained to enable safe and clear access to all areas and tourism destinations. — Maintenance of the country road network needs to meet the growing demand of the tourism and agricultural industries. Challenges currently faced on the country road network include increasing size of truck loads and freight movements, increasing numbers of regional cyclists and domestic and international tourists. — Driver behaviour presents a number of safety risks on country roads and solutions including improved signage and driver awareness and education campaigns should be considered in future planning and maintenance regimes. — Currently, the country road network does not offer appropriate infrastructure for shared use, including cyclists and pedestrians. The installation of shared paths and dedicated lanes to address safety concerns should be considered in future planning. — The approach to ongoing maintenance of the country road network is a state-wide concern. Where possible, VicRoads should work in partnership with local councils, government, economic development groups, regional transport working groups and key transport agencies to plan for and coordinate long-term planning and prioritisation of key upgrade and maintenance requirements. — There is some support for exploring alternate funding sources to contribute to the maintenance of country roads. This could include levies on major freight companies, and fees for key regional industries who frequently use the country road network. Project No 2271547A WSP Country Roads Engagement Feedback Analysis Report September 2017 VicRoads Page 3 3 FEEDBACK