Integration of community participation in strategic transport planning : a local experience [use of GPS to allow movement of freight efficient vehicles on the road network].

Australia's road transport agencies are under increasing pressure to allow transport operators to use large special-combination vehicles (often referred to as freight-efficient vehicles or FEVs) on a larger proportion of the road network. This is at a time when funds to upgrade road infrastructure to cope with these increased demands are extremely tight. This research looks at capability of satellite-based global positioning systems (GPS) in allowing the movement of these FEVs to be monitored with a view to know when they have departed from permitted parts of the road network. This paper demonstrates: (1) The accuracy of GPS now that it is no longer intentionally degraded by the US Military; (2) That an indicator for the quality of GPS data is readily available; and (3) Even quite coarse road network definitions allow acceptably wide road corridors to be monitored. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E205861.