Understanding decision-makers' attitudes to assessing heavy vehicle access to local roads.

State, territory and national governments are advancing a national reform agenda that includes increasing access by high productivity vehicles to roads under the control of State/Territory authorities. Due to their ability to carry higher loads at lower unit costs these vehicles offer significant productivity gains for operators and the community, but there is a level of professional and community concern on their expansion across the network. For freight operators the door-to-door operating conditions influence the efficiency of operations and so the conditions on both state roads and local roads are relevant to their operations. This push to open up parts of the local road network to these vehicles has generated responses that range from strong support due to the productivity gains and therefore economic benefits expected for regions, through to significant concerns on the environmental and social impacts of these vehicles have on local areas. This paper explores the level of understanding of key groups involved in freight planning and operations of these factors and how the factors interact. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E217541.