Poor performance of transport due to problems of affordability, safety, availability, convenience, and appropriateness can act as a barrier to people's participation in the range of social, civic and economic activities of mainstream society. Currently, accessibility by public transport, walk and cycle is poor. The relatively good access to private transport of most adults allows them to deal with this problem. However, a percentage of adults, especially young adults and the older age groups who have limited or no access to a car have significant problems in accessibility. Freight accessibility also has implications for the productivity of industries. Some of the key constraints to freight accessibility include long travel times that do not meet the requirements of delivery-time-sensitive goods, health and safety requirements of driving, poor travel time reliability, local authority curfews and last-mile access, lack of real-time information on severe delays, poor pavement condition that can cause damage to vehicles and goods, safety of driving and availability of rest facilities for drivers. The purpose of this project was to extend the Austroads network operation planning framework to address accessibility issues and to outline accessibility metrics for accessibility to employment, primary and secondary school, tertiary institution, and retail and recreation based on previous Austroads research. The project was also tasked to outline metrics for health and community services, and freight, based on stakeholder interviews and a literature review. An extended framework was developed which itemises the general principles and steps in developing an accessibility-based network operation plan (NOP). The framework includes general guidance on accessibility metrics for employment, school (all levels), retail and recreation, health and community services, and freight. The framework was applied to the Burwood Heights Activity Centre (in Melbourne) to illustrate how the framework can be applied. The key findings of the study were as follows: * It is important to understand road user requirements to guide the development of a network operation plan that can facilitate accessibility outcomes, and these requirements include the identification of valued destinations, travel time constraints and level-of-service requirements. * To address accessibility issues, it is necessary to examine broad spectrum level-of-service (LOS) requirements including mobility, safety, access, information and amenity. * The assessment of performance gaps needs to consider the route from the residence (or origin) to valued destinations and care should be taken that there is no significant constraint along the route. * It is critical that accessibility be facilitated through various travel options and, in particular, accessibility by public transport, walk and cycle. It is recommended that the general principles and key steps of the proposed accessibility-based NOP framework be incorporated in the Guide to Traffic Management. It is also recommended that the framework be incorporated in the development of network operation plans, where appropriate. To facilitate the application of the accessibility-based NOP, the development of a computer software application is recommended. The tool would assist planners to assess travel time and journey LOS gaps. (Author/publisher)
Abstract