125 bridges and culverts across 33 different councils will receive funded engineering assessments under the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) Strategic Local Government Asset Assessment Project (SLGAAP), supported by the Federal Government.
The bridges and culverts were selected based on whether the locations were on priority freight routes and would deliver potential improved access for heavy vehicles.
Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister, Catherine King, said, “The Australian Government allocated $12 million in funding to expand the number of local council asset assessments across Australia’s road network through to late 2024, bringing our total funding to $20 million for this initiative.
“These assessments can deliver increased benefits for heavy vehicle operators and assist local councils in assessing their assets’ capability.”
The Federal Government‘s $20 million total investment includes $4 million in 2023 to assess more bridges and culverts through to late 2024.
Through the SLGAAP, the NHVR connects engineering consultants with local government road managers to deliver funded bridge and culvert assessments and engineering reports.
The information supports councils to better understand their bridge or culvert’s capability and make informed heavy vehicle access decisions.
NHVR Chief Executive Officer, Sal Petroccitto, said, “This latest round of SLGAAP will bring the project’s total number of assessments to 590 across 88 local councils.
“We support local governments to understand their assessment reports, apply conditions for heavy vehicle access and publish and manage their asset data in the NHVR Portal through a road manager toolkit with recorded webinars, training modules and templates.”
