Freight network accessibility overview
Summary of indicator
| Indicator Name | Freight network accessibility |
| Indicator Type | Core |
| User Outcome | Reliable transport |
Objective
To measure the efficiency of access for freight.
Application guidance
Freight is the derived demand from people for goods and services. It most commonly manifests as trucks on the road. The economy, including the economy of successful places, relies on goods and services while the efficient and safe movement of goods reduces impact on other road users, the broader community, and the environment. Catering for the movement of high productivity vehicles to and from large freight generating locations such as logistics hubs and industrial areas needs to be considered as part of the delivery chain. High productivity vehicles travel on designated routes and are often restricted on other roads. These designated routes need to be protected, or alternatives identified if they are to be changed. Separating areas of place intensity and sensitive land uses from freight routes is desirable. Truck lanes or restricted access roads could be considered in and around important freight and logistics precincts like ports and intermodal facilities to separate high productivity vehicles from general traffic and improve reliability.
This indicator will support practitioners to understand the access and connectivity of high productivity vehicles across successful places including dedicated freight routes from land use zones that are likely to produce higher volumes of freight traffic. Based on the outcome of the assessment, practitioners can determine whether the movement of goods across the network is adequately provided for or if additional road segments could be re-classified to provide alternate route options.
Practitioners can use the connectivity to heavy vehicle network metric to measure the connectivity index of industrially zoned lands to the arterial heavy vehicle network.
Practitioners can use the target level of access metric to measure the target level of freight access for the State road network.
Metrics
- Target level of access on State roads for heavy goods vehicles
- Target level of access on roads connecting to industrial land for high productivity vehicles
Related indicators
 | Access and Connection |
 | Amenity and Use Transport node facilities |
 | Comfort and Safety |
Recommendation
- Analysis and metrics to cover last mile and urban freight should be incorporated into future iterations of this indicator to support a broader understanding of freight accessibility
- To improve the accuracy of the analysis of high freight locations and industrial areas, actual gate or entry points could be determined
- To enrich the analysis of heavy vehicle routes, telematics data or AANPR data could be considered.
A target level of PBS 3 access applies to the following sections of state road:
- On and west of the Newell Highway
- roads east of the Newell Highway currently approved for Type 1 A-Double Road Trains
- Oxley Highway - between the Newell Highway and Tamworth
- Sturt Highway - between the Newell Highway and Hume
- Hume Highway - between the Victorian border and M5 Motorway
- Golden Highway - between the Newell Highway and New England Highway
- New England Highway - between the Golden Highway and Hunter Expressway and between John Renshaw Drive and the Pacific Highway
- Hunter Expressway
- M1 Pacific Motorway - between John Renshaw Drive and Wahroonga
- Pacific Highway - between the New England Highway and the Queensland border
- John Renshaw Drive - between the M1 Pacific Motorway and New England Highway.
