Larger trucks on freeways (Vic.)

Roderick.

'Big is better': Huge trucks on Eastern Freeway, EastLink and North East Link within a decade 19 March 2018. 13 comments.
Australia's biggest freight trucks will be given the green light to drive on Eastern Freeway, EastLink and the new North East Link within 10 years after the $16.5 billion toll road is built.
Trucks, 30 metres long and weighing more than 85 tonnes, have been banned from most Victorian roads because of their size, but the new highway linking the M80 Ring Road and the Eastern Freeway will be built to accommodate the haulking road trains.
The new generation of trucks, referred to in the industry as high-productivity freight vehicles, will make trips along the Eastern Freeway, between Springvale and Bulleen Roads, as well as EastLink and the North East Link.
The North East Link Authority is investigating which of the high-productivity freight vehicles will be given access, including whether the new tollway will accommodate A Doubles, which are 30 metres long and weigh up to 85.5 tonnes.
A double truck on the Westgate Freeway. Photo: JOE ARMAO
Eastern Freeway will have capacity to carry the larger trucks once it is widened, and a series of bridges are strengthened.
In a technical report, North East Link Authority said giving high-productivity freight vehicles access to Melbourne's north-east would unlock enormous potential to move more freight efficiently between the south-east and the north, and also interstate.
It would also cut the number of trucks on roads because larger loads would be carried by a single vehicle, rather than several smaller trucks, the report found.
Trucks weighing more than 68.5 tonnes have been restricted from driving along many key freeways and tollways in Melbourne including the West Gate and Bolte bridges.
The freight industry says bigger trucks carrying two 40-foot shipping containers need more road access, in the wake of a growing proportion of 40-foot containers moving through the Port of Melbourne.
An A Double truck can carry two 40-foot containers, double the amount carried by a standard B-Double.
A 2015 research paper by chair of National Truck Action Research Centre Dr Kim Hassall, shows that the larger trucks were involved in 64 per cent less serious and major accidents in Australia when compared to conventional trucks or
semitrailers, per 100 million kilometres.
Victorian Transport Association chief Peter Anderson said the next generation trucks were the “safest trucks on the road”, as they were equipped with electronic stability control, state-of-the-art braking and have GPS tracking to ensure
they only travel on permitted routes.
"It is a win for the industry and the community,” he said.
But Greens MP Samantha Dunn said the Andrews Government should be prioritising freight rail rather than opening up so much road space to the massive trucks.
She said allowing huge trucks to share roads with private motor vehicles was dangerous and said more clarity about which roads the trucks would use to access the north-east freight route was needed.
Natasha Reifschneider, the head of local lobby group Resolve Rosanna Road, called for a truck ban on Rosanna Road in light of plans for the bigger trucks to ensure the safety of residents living on the highway's feeder roads.
“The width of the lanes don’t cater for the size of the trucks, so the mirrors hang out over the lane, and trucks swing over onto other lanes … this presents a huge safety risk."
Australia is unique in the world in giving the high-productivity freight vehicles such considerable road access, said Dr Hassall, also co-director of the Industrial Logistics Institute.
It was a positive step that these heavier trucks were being prioritisied on more roads in Victoria, Dr Hassall argued, as they were safer than conventional semi-trailers.
“Everyone thinks big is bad, but all the research has actually proven that it is around 60 per cent better than the conventional semi-trailers.”
“It’s turned out that big is actually better”.
Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said the North East Link would provide a “much needed alternative” to existing high productivity freight vehicle routes and mark an “important step in delivering orbital road network accessibility to
industry".
< www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/big-...20180316-p4z4on.html >
* No problems with big trucks as long as they must keep in the left lane and can only overtake if there are on a three la...
* I have less trouble with trucks than cars on the freeways... I'd be happy to see more trucks than cars.

Hi,

Quote
"But Greens MP Samantha Dunn said the Andrews Government should be prioritising freight rail rather than opening up so much road space to the massive trucks.
She said allowing huge trucks to share roads with private motor vehicles was dangerous and said more clarity about which roads the trucks would use to access the north-east freight route was needed."
End quote

It sounds like she thinks automobiles with human persons "driving" them with real live arms and legs and eyes and heads is going to be a thing of the future. Like the mass transit horse - it aint gonna happen like that.

Tiny little electric cars driving along on tiny little fly by wire roads controlled by eyes the sky, real time CCTV cameras and internal computer guidance systems is more likely the go.

A doubles, traveling in convoy to rail heads and distribution centres to be broken down for local distribution? Ya, makes sense to me.

Cars on the road? Get over it.

bwwik?

cya
-b

Hmmmmmmmmmm

Well for me its nothing more than a ...................................................................................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have asked several Victorian truck drivers what the go is ?????
Standard answer is "If you have enough money and BS you buy a permit to do anything in Victoria now"

Considering some parts of this wide brown land are still struggling to get full employment this would be a wrong move I would have thought

I have suggested to anyone that will listen (virtually no one) that we seemed to have smaller trucks driving around once carting smaller loads and not that long ago it was almost all to the nearest rail yard were more men shifted the load and so on

Now we lost all of this because it cost to much and we were to inefficient and life was so going to be so much better !!!

Now even truck drivers doing relatively local work have to spend a week away from home carting bigger loads for less real money in the pocket and even more hours with "basic fatigue" than ever before

Im really struggling to see the gains made if any at all

And so the answers from the powers that be is make trucks even bigger with even less drivers , sounds like a fool proof plan as its worked so well for the last 30 or 40 years

Hmmmmmm ????????????????


Paul

An A double? Looks like a roadtrain to me. Must be an easier name to sell to the public? :blink:

I suspect that the term A-double is probably best for the general public. Southerners know (from holiday up north, or from you-tube etc) that "road trains" are those nasty monsters with many, many trailers (and wheels) that wobble all over the place and cars have to get off the road and out of their way. Nah, say the good burghers down south, don't wan't that stuff down here. But an "A-double" is different, just a bit more than a "B-double."

They've been on the Brisy. roads for a long time now. Not much longer than a "B" , in fact you have to check 2X to actually realise there's two big containers on it.
Speeds are pretty low, 80 I'd guess which works in fine with the traffic speed anyway.
I thought I saw "B" triples on those same routes a few years ago. Must have been a trial as they're not around anymore.
It's a real eye opener going to the big smoke. The number of twin steer, tandem drive + lifting tag axle tippers is incredible.

Milk companies around Warrnambool and Maffra have been using these
for some time. Semi, dolly and second trailer from what I've seen.
Like Southbound said, Road Train. Paul.

Interesting as to just what you seem to be able to get away with in rural Victoria these days.
I live on an intersection of two main highways, one North/South, the other East-West right about the center of the state and reckon that I have seen just about every combination, other than B-triples, trundling through here at odd times.
Seems to also be quite a few LWB rigid tippers with a dolly and a tri-axle tipping trailer on the back, especially on the grain when it's on. Don't know just what the overall length is, but seem to be roughly the same as a B-Double with tri-tri tankers.
Dave

The "A" trailer on a triple would probably only fit a 20' container ?
So the triple concept had a flaw, 2-20 footers plus one 40 footer.
The mini road train seems to be all 40 footers with the 20 footers left to the rigid + short skel combinations.
Would make more economic sense building a fleet of conventional skels capable of taking the 40 footer either with a dolly or hooking directly to the prime mover.
Can't believe how expensive "A" trailers are.

Eye can't see why they dun run one truck , one driver with half a duz or 6 trailers joined ...... @ 1000 / 1500 HP B etween the outskirts of the capital cities
eg: Mel - Syd
Syd - Bris
Adel - Melb
Perth - Adel

n do away of all the talk of Automominus BS

WotSezU?


cya

§