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

  • March 16, 2015
    US updates ITS strategy for Connected Vehicle deployment
    Jon Masters looks at the USDOT’s new ITS Strategic Plan for the next five years. Emphasis and direction for the next five years of Government led ITS research in the United States has been framed within a new ITS Strategic Plan. The US Department for Transportation’s (USDOT) ITS Joint Program Office (JPO) published the report at the tail end of 2014 after concluding a two-year ITS industry consultation process. The Plan identifies a vision to transform the way society moves and the ITS JPO’s aim of advancin
    Read More
  • January 30, 2012
    e-Call emergency service doesn't go far enough
    eCall misses the point and is only a tacit acknowledgement that the road safety issue has not yet been adequately addressed, according to FEMA's Aline Delhaye. According to the Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations (FEMA), the European Commission's (EC's) ambitions for eCall implementation are premature and fail to take account of all road users' needs or of technological progress elsewhere.
    Read More
  • July 27, 2012
    Measuring vehicle lengths with a single loop - promising results
    District 7 of Caltrans has been conducting trials to see whether the use of a single inductive loop to measure vehicle lengths and so identify heavy trucks is feasible. So far, the results have been very promising, according to Lead Transportation Engineer Steve Malkson. Between them, the adjoining ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the US's two biggest, cover some 10,700 acres (43km2) and 68 miles (109km) of waterfront.
    Read More
  • October 12, 2016
    IAM RoadSmart calls for joined up thinking on road safety
    Action is needed from across government departments to reverse the trend of flat-lining road deaths, according to new research from UK road safety charity IAM RoadSmart, which says reducing these deaths would in turn offer a large saving to the public purse. The new report, Evaluating the costs of incidents from the public sector perspective, is the first attempt to update the formula for death and injury cost figures since the 1990s. It is also the first time anyone has highlighted the costs to the publ
    Read More

Highlighted Content