Skip to main content

Transurban awards funding for R&D for safer Australian roads

Transurban has awarded US$80,000 (AU$100,000) grants to three pioneering research and development projects targeting safer and smarter Australian roads in the latest round of its Innovation Grants Program. Transurban CEO Scott Charlton said each of the successful research projects would trial local Australian technologies to address known safety or efficiency challenges affecting our nation’s busiest motorways.
August 4, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

600 Transurban has awarded US$80,000 (AU$100,000) grants to three pioneering research and development projects targeting safer and smarter Australian roads in the latest round of its Innovation Grants Program.

Transurban CEO Scott Charlton said each of the successful research projects would trial local Australian technologies to address known safety or efficiency challenges affecting our nation’s busiest motorways.

The successful 2017 Transurban Innovation Grant recipients and research projects are:
University of Melbourne for research into a speed sensor with LED lights, which, once attached to the road surface could provide real-time customised signals encouraging speeding drivers to slow down.

Imagine IM for a trial of a pressure sensor made from graphene that, when constructed into the motorway surface, would enable a ‘smarter’ road capable of reporting on traffic density, weight, volume and road surface condition.

Deakin University for the development of a high-energy absorbing overlay made of recycled plastic and textile fibres to cover roadside wire rope barriers, with the aim of reducing injury severity in crashes involving motorcyclists.

“This year’s recipients are researching new materials and technology that could one day benefit the transport sector and community as a whole, with potential applications far broader than our own road networks,” said Charlton.

The Transurban Innovation Grants Program is aligned to the company’s 'Think Long Term' sustainability program. Grants of up to $100,000 are available to support ideas requiring further research and investigation to determine their feasibility and application to real world challenges facing transport infrastructure.

Related Content

  • August 18, 2022
    $130m infrastructure spend in Vancouver
    TransLink invests in cycling paths, walkways, multi-use paths, intersections and roads
  • July 26, 2013
    Spanish rail accident ‘could be the result of over-speed’
    Investigations continue into the cause of the train crash approaching the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, but suggestions that the train was travelling too fast appear to be gaining weight. Officials say one of the train's drivers has been put under formal investigation. The president of railway firm Renfe, Julio Gomez Pomar, has said the train in the crash had no technical problems. "The train had passed an inspection that same morning. Those trains are inspected every 7,500km... Its maintenance r
  • February 21, 2022
    ITS Australia celebrates 2021 Awards winners 
    Winners include Lexus, Aimsun, Bosch - and Peter Bentley wins lifetime achievement trophy
  • June 20, 2016
    Regulating rural road use
    David Crawford looks at problems facing indigenous communities and those unfamiliar with driving in rural areas. While it is well known that the fatality rate for road crashes in rural areas is higher than in towns and cities, some groups suffer far more than others. For instance, the rates of death and serious injury from vehicle accidents is much higher for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI and AN) populations living in rural tribal lands than for any of the country’s other ethnic populations. Crashes