This resource is sourced from the Construction Trucks and Community Safety project, Road Safety Victoria, Victoria Department of Transport and Planning: Construction Trucks and Community Safety
A common consequence of large urban construction sites is the increase in heavy vehicle traffic. As part of construction traffic management planning, engineers tend to choose the most direct route to the constructions site. However, the most direct route may not be the safest route, especially for Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) such as pedestrians and cyclists. There is no recommended process for selecting a suitable truck route. Route planners may refer to the B-Double gazetted network maps, but these do not always reflect the current suitability of the road for heavy vehicles, nor does it reflect the surrounding land uses. As part of a wider VRU safety taskforce, the Heavy Vehicle Route Selection Working Group have developed the Human Impact Route Assessment (HIRA) tool and process to better capture the suitability of heavy vehicle routes with regards to VRUs.