The development of a wet weather speed limit trial on a NSW freeway.

A key outcome of the New South Wales Road Users Summit held in March 2005, was for the NSW Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA) to develop a Wet Weather Speed Limit trial on the northbound lanes of the Sydney to Newcastle Freeway between the Hawkesbury River and Mount White. The demonstration project utilises Variable Speed Limit (VSL) signs, weather stations, pavement moisture detectors and static signs to reduce the speed limit to 90 km/h limit when raining. The 90 km/h wet and 100 km/h dry speed limits are enforced by a new fixed speed camera. Major challenges in introducing a wet weather speed limit included the high cost of electronic VSL signs, calibration of equipment, incidence of electrical storms in the area and remote monitoring of the geographically isolated scheme by the RTA's Transport Management Centre in Sydney. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E215375.