The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has welcomed the Victorian Government’s release of eight new pre-approved crane maps as an important step towards delivering national automated heavy vehicle access outcomes.
Earlier this month the Minister for Ports and Freight Melissa Horne released eight pre-approved maps – which will give mobile crane operators information about where they can travel on the road network.
The maps – which are an Australian first – are for mobile cranes with 6 to 9-axles and will ensure they can continue delivering projects without the need for a bridge assessment.
NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto said that the regulator’s National Spatial Platform will provide a single national dynamic map of state and local roads, providing transparency of all allowable access arrangements.
“The new map will remove the need for industry to access multiple state maps when planning their journeys and access requirements – with end-to-end and cross-border networks displayed in one location,” Petroccitto said.
“Pre-approved routes represent networks that have already been assessed by road managers and can act as an interim step before gazetting networks – they reduce permit turnaround times and provide improved certainty for industry.
Petroccitto said the new National Spatial Platform will allow for immediate approval of pre-approved routes – by instantly adding the route to an operators permit as soon as the access application is submitted.
“Supporting pre-approved routes is the ability for road managers to build networks and update network data in real time in the Spatial Platform – meaning access conditions can be changed by the click of a button,” he said.
“The platform will also provide operators with their full fleet of vehicle configurations from the NHVR heavy vehicle database and will automatically match assembled vehicles with up to date dynamically generated networks.”
The NHVR said it is taking an agile approach in enhancing its routing and mapping capabilities in stages as part of the National Spatial Platform.
The Next Generation Route Planner is providing more accurate routing outcomes for industry, added Petroccitto.
Over the coming months, the Asset Rapid Assessment Tool will be available, to provide the tools for road managers to assess bridge capability for heavy vehicles in a matter of minutes.
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