 A swept path assessment or a swept path analysis is a diagram or a collection of diagrams indicating the path taken by a certain vehicle when undertaking various movements such as three point turns, U-turns or right turns. These diagrams mimic the path followed by the body and chassis of vehicles during these movements. The intention of swept path diagrams is to analyse and confirm that vehicles are able to stay clear of hazards such as fixed objects and road users when undertaking manoeuvres.
Local councils or road authorities often request swept path assessments when planning new developments, particularly when car parks, driveways, access roads of these developments are shared amongst various users. Swept paths are also required when construction sites are expected to generate a regular flow of heavy vehicles during a certain long-term construction activity. Swept path assessments are prepared using various design vehicle templates outlined in Austroads Guidelines and Australian Standards and are drawn using professional engineering drafting software. Traffic engineers understand the most appropriate class of vehicle suited for your development. Factors such as the speed of the vehicle, vehicle type, width of the vehicle accessways or even external factors such as weather conditions affect the outcome of a swept path assessment. As external factors such as weather conditions or pavement conditions are unable to be captured in a simulation, a worst-case scenario is presented in each swept path analysis. Experienced traffic engineers of RedSquare Traffic are able to produce high-quality swept path assessments to assist with planning applications, construction traffic management plans or for any other activity which requires swept path assessments. Call us on 03 7036 6734 to request a quotation. These services may also interest you:
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 Parking Demand Assessments also known as Parking Assessments or Parking Studies are often requested by local councils or road authorities when your development is expected to create adverse impacts on the existing car parking facilities surrounding the proposed development including public and street parking. Parking assessments are also required when your development is not able to provide the required number of parking spaces as mandated by the Planning Scheme of your local council.
These parking demand assessments typically contain a review of applicable Planning Scheme clauses and calculations on how many parking spaces your development must provide. The parking space requirement varies according to the size of your development. In simple words, a 3-bed room house only requires 2 parking spaces, whereas a medical centre may need 10-15 car parking spaces. If there is a shortfall in parking spaces due to constraints associated with land size or otherwise, a parking demand assessment is required to justify that your development can operate successfully with a reduced number of parking spaces. In other words, your visitors or customers must be able to find parking spaces within a practical distance from your development, and this must not create any detrimental effect to other roads users in the surrounding road network. If this cannot be achieved, due to parking restrictions or simply because the existing street parking spaces are typically operating at capacity, the development must provide other ways for customers or visitors to access it. This can either be public transport modes or sustainable transport modes such as walking or cycling. Failing all this, a development may also be forced to consider innovative options such as car stackers or basements. To understand existing parking capacity of the surrounding road network, our traffic engineers conduct peak hour parking surveys on typical weekdays. Through this, we make an assessment of whether the existing street parking or nearby public carparks can support your development. Experienced traffic engineers of RedSquare Traffic can prepare Parking Demand Assessments to accompany your Planning Permit application. A typical Parking Demand Assessment will contain the following:
Contact RedSquare Traffic on 03 7036 6734 to obtain a quote. See other services that may interest you:  During feasibility assessment stages, it is extremely important to evaluate whether your future development will mandate an intersection upgrade at the access point to the property. If you learn about this piece of information once you have committed to the investment, it might be too late. Always prepare for the worst-case scenario. Keep reading to learn more. Some of this may be brand new information for some.
When certain developments like subdivisions are expected to generate a considerable amount of traffic accessing and egressing the development, it will have an adverse impact on the adjoining main road that it is connected to. Not only do vehicles slowing down to access the development, may slow down the traffic stream of the main road, they may also cause rear-end type crashes. In simple terms, a development is not supposed to make the existing road network worse-off. If it does, mitigation measures must be put in place. In order to assess this risk, a traffic engineer performs a Turn Warrants Assessment as part of a broader Traffic Impact Assessment. Through this, a traffic engineer evaluates the number of turning movements that are expected to occur at the access point of the development and compares these numbers against the volumes of the adjacent main road. Austroads Design Guidelines specifies the types of turning treatments required for various types of roads with various speed limits. Assessment criteria include:
Who would have thought, you need guidance from a traffic engineer before buying a large block of land? Now you know, that you should. Keep following RedSquare Traffic's blog for more interesting articles. Contact RedSquare Traffic on 03 7036 6736 for your traffic engineering services including:  Designing a car park has a lot more to it than simply dividing the space up into the maximum number of car parking spaces you can possibly fit in it. It is true that the developer almost always prefers to maximise the number of car parking bays. However, there are more aspects to consider when designing a car park.
(2) A pedestrian walking back to their vehicle is always looking to locate their car and get to it by using the shortest route available; (3) A vehicle entering the car park is always looking to find the closest, most convenient car parking space in the shortest amount of time possible; and (4) A vehicle exiting the car park is always looking to locate the exit and get to it as quickly as possible. Then you add to it the children running around, the prams, the wheelchairs, people with special needs, trolleys, delivery vehicles, bicycles and public transport vehicles. Now imagine putting all of these together in an area and asking them not to collide with each other. It is pure chaos, isn't it? Hence why we said at the start, it is way more complex than playing a game Tetris. In the game, worst possible outcome is you losing the game. In a car park, you may cost a life. Thus, a car park design must look at various considerations covering few different aspects of traffic engineering to achieve the best possible outcome. In summary, a car park must provide:
Talk to the traffic engineers of RedSquare Traffic to understand the process of a car park design. Following services may also interest you:  Pedestrian and cyclist safety in temporary worksites
Pedestrian and cyclist safety is of greater importance when it comes to temporary works on footpaths or shared user paths. Imagine being a cyclist riding on a rainy, freezing cold night on a slippery cycle path and encountering a shared user path closure and not having a detour to get around the worksite safely? Not only it is extremely frustrating, but you are subjecting yourself to a risk that should not have happened in the first place. It is vital that each road user is considered separately when designing temporary traffic schemes. After hours treatment is another important aspect of a worksite that is often overlooked, especially when it comes to footpaths and shared user paths. Detailed planning must occur regarding how the work zones are treated during work hours and after hours - when no workers are occupying the area. This is where Traffic Guidance Schemes and Traffic Control Plans come in handy, which detail specifically how and where signage and detours are provided during both working and after hours. A Road Safety Audit is also recommended for worksites such that an opinion of an independent accredited person is sought to evaluate the safety risks associated with your worksite. Talk to RedSquare Traffic’s traffic engineers to discuss more about: - Traffic Guidance Schemes; - Traffic Control Plans; - Traffic Management Plans; and - Road Safety Audits. RedSquare Traffic 03 7036 6734
Construction Traffic Management Plans (CTMPs) and Worksite Traffic Management Plans (WTMPs)23/8/2021  It is important to seek assistance from an accredited traffic engineer when operating a long term construction site. Before commencing work, the site team must prepare a CTMP or a WTMP and get it approved by the relevant road authority.
CTMPs will show and analyse the potential impacts of your work site on the surrounding network. This includes the movement of trucks, parking removals, material delivery strategies, any changes to footpaths, diversions around your worksite etc. A traffic engineer will quantify and produce an independent assessment for the road authority to review. Talk to our accredited traffic engineers today to ask about CTMPs and WTMPs..  Most developers may not know the fact that you are not always obliged to provide parking for commercial development. In fact, even for residential developments, you can provide a reduced number of parking space and still get your planning permit application approved.
How? Yes, that’s what traffic engineers are for. We make assessments of nearby public and street parking, public transport facilities, bicycle and pedestrian connectivity and make an expert judgement regarding the general accessibility of your development. We liaise with Council traffic engineers in justifying these requirements by quoting planning scheme clauses. Next time you give up on a development opportunity because you don’t have enough car parking, give us a call. We can assist.
 We were recently contacted by a town planner who was in the middle of preparing a feasibility assessment for a proposed mixed-use development in Ivanhoe.
The client wanted to purchase the next door property to their shop to build 9 x 2-bed apartments and to retain the two shops in the ground floor. Client had almost given up on the idea. Why? The property is 16m x 38m, they thought it’s too small to fit this many apartments and a car park. Luckily, they rang us. Guess what they never thought of? A basement car park! Yes, it seems very complex. But imagine the ‘Cost vs Benefit’ of converting a block of land into 9 2-bed apartments plus two shops? That too, in Ivanhoe! We were able to do a functional layout of a basement car park with 13 generous car parking spaces, and had 4 spare spaces for visitors, with a staircase, a lift and lockers! 2 days ago, owners had a block of land 16 x 38 with two old shops. Fast forward two days, they are now building 9 apartments in Ivanhoe! Talk to a traffic engineer. We can always help! |
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