Konferens: HVTT12: International Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology, 2012, Stockholm

Overall vehicle length is a primary driver of freight vehicle productivity. The Performance Based Standards (PBS) scheme aims to increase productivity and safety by matching the right vehicles to the right roads. It steers away from prescriptive vehicle limits, however the complexities related to parameters of network elements, for instance, intersection clearance times, stacking distance, traffic flow and overtaking ability, have given rise to de-facto maximum length limits being applied for the purposes of network classification. There are also issues concerning public perception of longer vehicles. This project highlights the outcomes from Austroads project FS1675 which aimed to review the PBS Level 1 length limit and determine the optimum limit by developing a risk-based assessment methodology. Fifty five representative sites, from a number of jurisdictions, were assessed as part of the refinement and evolvement of the methodology. Using the methodology outlined, it has been found that a maximum length of up to 23 m for PBS Level 1 vehicles could be considered for implementation.