Life-cycle costing of rain and flood events in Queensland: case studies and network-wide implications

The rain and flood events across Queensland between 2010 and 2013 showed that the road network is more exposed to damage from such events than desirable, with between 23% and 62% of the state-controlled network closed or with limited access over four consecutive summers. With increasingly uncertain climatic factors and stretched infrastructure budgets, efficient optimisation and prioritisation of works is critical to the overall network condition. Strategic timely maintenance and rehabilitation programs are thought to be preferable to one-off major reconstruction programs such as the recently completed Transport Network Reconstruction Program (TNRP). A project under the National Assets Centre of Excellence (NACOE) program has analysed the life-cycle costing implications of rain and flood events in Queensland. This has been undertaken through a series of case studies under three different strategies; a base case mirroring actual experience with a limited rehabilitation and maintenance budget, a ‘stitch-in-time’ approach with reduced intervention thresholds and reduced event impacts, and a ‘full resilience’ approach incorporating extensive reconstruction and a vision of full flood immunity. The seven case studies revealed that the approach to minimising the life-cycle cost of major rain and flood events is related to traffic volumes, whereby low-volume remote links may be best suited to adopt a strategy of targeting routine maintenance and value-for-money treatments, while higher-volume rural highways would see value in more substantial treatments to avoid costly closures. Sensitivity analyses were conducted, looking at the impact of varying reseal intervals and varied recurrence intervals of major rain and flood events. The project also draws network-wide conclusions to categorise the overall network effect of each of the three strategies.

• Record URL:
  http://arrbknowledge.com
• Authors:
  • Beecroft, A
  • Peters, E
  • Toole, T
• Conference:
  • ARRB Conference, 27th, 2016, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Publication Date: 2016-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: Linking people, places and opportunities: 27th ARRB Conference, 16-18 November 2016, Melbourne, Victoria

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Costs; Disasters; Floods; Highways; Life cycle costing; Maintenance; Maintenance management; Types of roads by network
• Uncontrolled Terms: Road design and asset management
• Geographic Terms: Australia; Queensland
• ATRI Terms: Case study; Disaster management; Flooding; Life cycle costs; Maintenance planning; Road network
• ITRD Terms: 8531: Case study; 2184: Emergency; NETWORK (TRAFFIC); 253: Transport authority
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01622875
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 24 2017 12:00PM