Projects
Key projects undertaken by the Directorate, including both current and recent projects being investigated.
Our Approach
The Roads and Transport Directorate collaborates with various subject matter experts, committees and working groups, to investigate project topics of importance and relevance to member councils, in line with the purpose of supporting our member councils to deliver an improved local road and transport network.
Asset AI™
Harnessing AI (artificial intelligence) technology to revolutionise road asset maintenance and operations.
Asset AI® Initiative:
Asset AI ® is a new digital platform that has the potential to support all levels of government in the management and repair of road defects. Asset AI leverages varied data sources, including computer vision data from council vehicles into a common interface, enabling councils to streamline and accelerate road maintenance, improving overall road safety.
Asset AI® detects road asset defects, even those unreported by the public. Through advanced AI analysis of captured footage, asset defects ranging from pavement defects (like potholes and cracks) to street garbage, and signs and guideposts, are promptly logged into our database. This proactive approach ensures defects are addressed before they escalate to safety causes by the road users.
Purpose:
Keeping our roads safe and maintaining our assets is a time consuming and expensive undertaking. By gaining a comprehensive understanding of our road network and providing an opportunity for early intervention, we can help reduce operational costs and enhance road safety outcomes.
Currently in the Beta stage of the project.
Council-based Freight Transport Strategy
With the growing freight task in NSW, the management of freight movement remains a key challenge, especially due to its impact on local roads and last mile issues. Thus, in collaboration with local councils and various stakeholders including Transport for NSW and National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR), this project was developed with the following objectives:
To identify strategies that councils can use to manage and optimise freight on local roads
To develop useful resources for councils to implement the identified strategies
We anticipate this project will be carried out within the first half of 2022. A Project Group has been formed with Nathan Skelly (Director Infrastructure and Environmental Services, Liverpool Plains Shire Council) the Chair of this project.
Opportunities for Sponge Cities in NSW
Lessons learned from disaster recovery (Completed 2021)
The devastating impact of the unprecedented 2019-20 bushfire and flood season demonstrated the need for a renewed and pro-active approach to the prevention of, preparation for, response to and recovery from potential future disasters, which are predicted to be more frequent and severe.
Through a collaborative approach, practical lessons learned were identified and recommendations were discussed by the working group. This is useful input for when councils prepare emergency response plans and to strengthen the resilience of our local communities in the face of future disasters.
The outcome of this project was to document the experience from Councils affected by the disaster and develop recommendations for government to consider and act. View the Lessons Learned Report in the Resources page.
For more information on these projects and other exciting current projects, contact us at rtd@ipweansw.org or on (02) 8267 3000