#69 Local Street Management (pt 6) - Implementation

The sixth entry in the current series on Local Area Traffic Management (LATM), as informed by the AGTM Part 8: Local Street Management [1], outlines Stage 5 of the LATM process, covering Implementation. This stage proceeds following completion of the scheme design in Stage 4.

Stage 5 Tasks

Timing and staging

There are several key factors that influence when and how implementation is achieved once the scheme design is in place. As described by Austroads (p.46), “works may be staged, or implemented in full at one time”. Funding considerations and practical feasibility (e.g., contractor and resource constraints) are common reasons for staged implementation. Staged implementation can also reflect a cautious approach to manage uncertainty around the broader effects of treatments, including traffic displacement and related issues. Staging allows such effects to be monitored, evaluated and subsequently managed for future stages. It may also allow priority treatments to be installed at high-risk locations (e.g., black spots) in advance of treatments in other areas. More broadly, according to Austroads (p.46):

Staging precinct by precinct is usually better than scattered sequencing of treatments. Another technique for staging is to work inwards from the boundaries of the local area, so that appropriate behaviour is ‘signalled’ to incoming traffic.

Staging is not without its own risks, one of which is that speed effects of a set of devices or treatments in sequence may be seriously compromised where the desired effects rely on full integration of the relevant components. Further (p.47):

Full implementation has the benefit that the whole area is treated, meaning that the effect of diverted traffic can be dealt with and drivers do not have to cope with a road network that keeps changing.

Trial installations

Temporary installations are generally discouraged, but can provide an opportunity to test some elements of the scheme in terms of road user response and expected effects of the permanent treatment/s. This likely adds to overall project costs but may also improve long-term outcomes through preliminary evaluation of positive and negative impacts.

Some trial installations have been so unattractive that they lead to a community backlash (p.47).

Trial installations should not reduce safety even temporarily and should be subject to pre- and post-treatment road safety audits.

Risk management

LATM design and implementation risks can be managed through progressive (including pre- and post-treatment) and staged road safety audits or other appropriate risk assessment techniques.

Undertaking progressive road safety audits can also assist in meeting a road agency’s legal and duty of care obligations (p.47).

[1] Austroads (2020). Guide to Traffic Management Part 8: Local Street Management. Sydney, Austroads. https://austroads.gov.au/publications/traffic-management/agtm08