Life cycle maintenance of low volume roads in the Alice Springs region

1. INTRODUCTION. Low volume roads carry low volumes of traffic which can be anything from a bicycle to a\nfully loaded road train and these roads tend to be not well funded in comparison with the\nmajor roads.\nThe Northern Territory's road network consists of national and regional highways as well\nas other roads linking the remote areas and major centres and majority of the roads in the\nAlice Springs Region are low volume roads.\nThe aim of this project is to investigate and develop improvements to low volume road\nmaintenance practices and procedures in the Alice Springs Region.\n2. BACKGROUND. \nDuring wet weather the unsealed roads become impassable and the communities that rely\non the roads become impatient if the roads are impassable for longer than two days. During\nlong periods of dry weather patches of the unsealed roads deteriorate into bull dust and the\npavement unravels due to the lack of moisture.\nFunding for low volume roads are limited and the increase of the Cyclical Maintenance\nbudget each financial year is in line with the CPI rate. Specific Maintenance projects are\nvery limited and capital works are very rare.\n3. OBJECTIVES. \nWith limited funding and resources for low volume roads, effective maintenance\nmanagement should be able to provide a road surface that is of an acceptable standard to\nthe road user.\nThe methods researched will be used to examine the cost implications and resources\navailability.\n4. METHOD. \nThe stages involved in the execution of the project include: - Review existing literature on road management practices, with particular emphasis on maintenance practices for low volume roads. - Gather data on low volume roads in the Alice Springs Region and factors which influence the deterioration of the road. - Collect and analyse data on the current maintenance practices in the region. - Evaluate and propose innovative maintenance practices that improve effectiveness and efficiency, and promote sustainable use of materials. - Interrogate and evaluate the implications of the cost and resources availability of applying selected maintenance innovations in the region.\n5. CONCLUSION. \nThere is scope for improvement of the current cyclic maintenance methods used even\nthrough there is associated problems with remoteness, availability of water and quality of\ngravel.