Incident Response Vehicle, Process & Costs

Philip Swift made this Right to Information request to Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was successful.

Dear Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads,

What technologies do you possess/use that is similar to the innovative all-in-one response vehicle that can stop and direct motorway traffic after incidents – then clean up spillages and repair the road afterwards?

For further information about the stated process, please see:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/innov...

Please:

1. provide a 2019 example of the technology being used with costs (but personal information redacted) i.e. the attendance records, times, events and ultimate breakdown of charges for the attendance, spill repair technique involved to departure and advise:

a. When was the process incepted?
b. What problems/issues have the process given rise to if any?
c. What reduction is road-surfacing has been achieved?
d. What savings have this process achieved?

If you are not the appropriate authority i.e. you do not hold this information, please could you advise to whom I should direct my request

My thanks in anticipation

Yours faithfully,

Philip Swift

Metropolitan Region, Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads

Dear Mr Swift

Thank you for your enquiry on 9 July 2019 about traffic response vehicle technology.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) is responsible for the safe management and operation of state-controlled roads in Queensland (QLD). TMR coordinates traffic incident management on state-controlled roads in South East Queensland (SEQ) in partnership with other agencies and first responders such as emergency services.

On average, several thousand traffic incidents are detected by Traffic Management Centres across SEQ each month. These incidents require coordinated responses to support the safety of the travelling public and return the network back to normal operating conditions. One approach TMR uses to achieve this outcome is contracted Traffic Incident Management Services (TIMS) sourced through commercial-in-confidence arrangements. This includes the Traffic Response Units (TRU) TRUMAX vehicle which is relevant to your enquiry.

TRU vehicles are an on-road service providing responses to traffic incidents particularly crashes and breakdowns, spillages and other on road hazards. The TRUMAX vehicle provides greater capability with debris and spill incidents, particularly those spills that have affected the pavement for long distances. The TRUMAX vehicles have been in operation in SEQ for 10 years, under contract to TMR.

These vehicles can reduce the:

* duration of traffic lane closures; and
* need for human intervention methods such as soaker material spreading and brooming in some circumstances.

These vehicles can also:

* remove a variety of substances; and
* operate with a trailer mounted attenuator to allow faster road reopening to keep our customers, the travelling public moving safely and efficiently across the transport system.

Additional responders that are available to our Traffic Management Centres include attenuated vehicles to support responses in high speed motorway environments and additional contracts for incident response with heavy equipment when needed.

For more information on Traffic Response Units or other TMR incident management services, please visit the below website:

https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Travel-and-tr...

The Department also supports Innovation and further details of our policies are available here: https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/business-indu....

Please feel free to get in touch if you'd like to further apply or supply any innovative technologies in the future.

We trust this information is of assistance.

Kind regards,
Department of Transport and Main Roads
Metropolitan Region / Brisbane Office
Program Delivery and Operations Branch | Department of Transport and Main Roads

PO Box 70 | Spring Hill Qld 4004
Ph: 13 74 68
E: mailto:[email address]
W: http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/

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