Skip to main content

Measuring durability of Australia's roads

The Danish Road Directorate has signed a contract with the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland regarding the measurements of more than 16,000km of roads.
April 5, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The Danish Traffic Speed Deflectometer on its way to Australia
The Danish Traffic Speed Deflectometer on its way to Australia

The 2284 Danish Road Directorate has signed a contract with the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland regarding the measurements of more than 16,000km of roads.

The Directorate sees the cooperation as a great step forward for the Danish road research, and as a consequence of the agreement the Danish Traffic Speed Deflectometer has been shipped to Australia to measure the bearing capacity and hence the durability of the roads.

This task has already been successfully undertaken on the Danish road network and "holds a promise of saving a lot of money on road maintenance."

The Danish Road director, Per Jacobsen said:

"This agreement is a giant boost for the Road Directorate as it demonstrates our ability to act in the global market for road research and technology.

"And the job is also to the benefit of the Danish road sector, as we are constantly striving to perform the best possible measuring to enable the right prioritising of road maintenance.

The assignment can help us with this by providing important data and further more we will be able to use the equipment while it is winter time in Denmark."

The Traffic Speed Deflectometer moves at traffic speed as opposed to earlier versions (falling-weight deflectometer) that required blocking the road and disturbing road users. It was developed in cooperation with 2283 Greenwood Engineering and with support from the 2282 Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs.

The assignment is due to finish in late 2010.

Related Content

  • 'I Make America' to lobby for quick introduction of highway bills
    March 14, 2012
    A senior US manufacturing association figure said congressmen will be getting lobbied by a 20,000-strong campaign movement calling for the swift adoption of highway bills aimed at generating jobs and new transport infrastructure.
  • US DOTs in critical funding battle
    February 9, 2012
    In the US, state DOTs are preparing for the upcoming reauthorisation battle in a tough economic and political climate. Set to expire by the end of the year, the bill is a critical funding source for many transportation projects in the US. However transportation officials in the US are facing a tough battle as the political and economic climate has changed considerably since the last reauthorisation was passed, shortly after President Obama's inauguration in January 2009. Since then, the recession has contin
  • Leaner WIM enforcement through new solutions
    December 3, 2013
    Guy Woodford reports on a major new Weigh in Motion system, big WIM solution deals and how a leading firm in the sector is warning UK fleet operators to be aware of how leaner enforcement work is helping authorities detect more overloaded vehicles Kapsch TrafficCom announced its keenly awaited new Weigh in Motion (WIM) solution at this year’s ITS European Congress in Dublin, Ireland. The sector-renowned Austrian firm’s latest solution uses a number of sensors and loops to detect whether the vehicle exceeds
  • Increasing importance of alternate truck routes
    February 14, 2012
    The fabled Silk Route from China to Europe takes many forms, and is again becoming increasingly important as Patrick Smithreports The ancient Silk Road was never a single caravan route, but covered hundreds of kilometres in width extending in length for around 10,000km. This is the view of the European International Road Transport Union (IRU), and many other countries and organisations, who point out that it is a system of routes covering many countries via a series of branch roads that dates back some 2