Victoria's rural arterial road network strategy (Linking Victoria, released in 1996) provides a framework for VicRoads to develop effectively targeted programs for improving the rural arterial road system in ways that meet the needs and expectations of the community. It is designed to provide a rural road system which is relevant to user needs and is affordable. The focus of Linking Victoria is the broad management of the 19,000 km of rural arterial roads by VicRoads for the Victorian and Federal governments. The objectives are to balance the economic, social and environmental expectations of the stakeholders who rely on the road network for access, and the community in general. A program of studies has commenced to prepare highway corridor strategies for all major highway routes. Linking Victoria sets, through its seven strategy elements, the function of each route and the appropriate performance standards. These highway corridor strategies are a greater level of detail than Linking Victoria. Their purpose is to establish, for the 10 to 15 year study period, the future travel demand, the needs and priorities for significant improvements, and the planning activities required to protect future transport options and achieve required access controls. They indicate the role of the route, the current and projected demand for travel, the particular user needs along the route, and the current condition, and identify the works necessary to bring each corridor up to the Linking Victoria performance standards. Priorities are established for actions in each corridor that provide a plan for the management of the route. The paper provides an overview of the development of Linking Victoria and discusses the methodology, consultation, project identification and priority setting behind the development of the highway corridor strategies. VicRoads has produced several of these strategies and has about twenty in various stages of production. (A)
Abstract